The Anatomy of Dissatisfaction in Small-Scale Restaurants: Insights from Online Narratives

Abstract

This study aims to identify the components of customerdissatisfaction in small-scale restaurants by analyzinglow-rated (1- to 3-star) online customer reviews. A totalof 664 low-rated reviews collected from four small-scale restaurants were analyzed using content analysis.Following Braun and Clarke's six-step procedure, opencoding was conducted to identify recurring meaningunits, which were subsequently grouped into higher-ordercategories and conceptualized into broader themes. Thefindings reveal that customer dissatisfaction clustersaround five main themes: service delivery and staffbehavior, food quality and product performance, pricingpractices and perceived value incongruity, operationalprocesses—waiting experience, physical environment andexperiential atmosphere.