DEVELOPING A MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL FRAMEWORK FOR FOOD AND TRAVEL PROGRAMMING

Ever since the late journalist Anthony Bourdain popularized the genre in 2002, food and travel television has dominated our screens. These shows typically feature a host or hosts traveling far and wide, trying out cuisines from across the world and featuring some famous and some unheard-of restaurants. This study aims to examine how these programs affect the restaurants that are featured, and to compare different formulas of food and travel shows to discover if one generates the highest overall ratings from both the audience and participating restaurants. This thesis first lays out the common formulas used in food and travel programs: 1) Focus on Restaurant, 2) Focus on Host, 3) Focus on Culture and 4) Combination. I hypothesized that the shows that follow the Focus on Restaurant model would receive the highest scores from the restaurants, and those that follow the Focus on Host model would receive the highest scores from the audience. To test these hypotheses, five well-known food and travel shows following five different formulas (Focus on Restaurant, Host, Culture, Combination of Culture and Host and Combination of Host and Restaurant) were selected, and a survey was distributed to restaurants that were featured on each show. The 12-statement survey asked restaurant owners to rate their overall experience on the show, whether it improved their business and whether they would recommend the experience. The scores received from the survey were then compared to available online audience ratings. The results did support the hypothesis that restaurants had the best experience with shows that follow the Focus on Restaurant formula, while shows that follow the Host and Culture Combination or Focus on Host model received the highest audience scores. From these findings, we can infer that in order to receive high scores from both participating restaurants and the audience, food and travel shows might be able to achieve the highest scores by combining a focus on restaurant, host and culture; however, more research is required to draw strong conclusions