Abstract:
In this study, satisfaction levels of Maasai Mara University students with on-campus cafeteria services are assessed. A questionnaire was created to measure the students’ satisfaction levels with various cafeteria service attributes, which included food quality, food variety, price fairness, staff conduct, and cafeteria environment. There were a total of 180 respondents for this study; 60 first year students, 58 second year students, 42 third year students, and 20 fourth year students. The study employed purposive sampling, where the guiding criterion was that the respondents were students taking Bachelor of Hotel and Hospitality Management. The Snowball technique was used to distribute the questionnaire.
The study found that satisfaction levels with on-campus cafeterias declined from the first year of study to the fourth year of study. In addition, it was revealed that 28% were very satisfied with cafeteria services with 20% of the students being neutral, and a further 20% being very dissatisfied. Food quality and taste was cited as the major reason why the students would not prefer cafeteria food. Food quality, food variety, price fairness, and staff conduct were found to be positively correlated with overall students’ satisfaction, all bearing a correlation of over 0.94. Cafeteria environment was not positively correlated with cafeteria environment, at 0.07. The cafeteria environment also came out as the service attribute that the students were least satisfied with. Based upon the findings of the study, it was recommended that on-campus cafeteria outlets improve on their environment, particularly cleanliness of the food preparation areas and cleanliness of the eating area. It was also recommended that on-campus cafeteria outlets improve on staff service, price, and cafeteria environment to counter the declining trend of satisfaction levels with years of study. This study significantly contributes to the understanding of the factors the university can check on in order to improve satisfaction levels with their cafeteria services.
