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The purpose of this paper is to examine the joint effects of menu pages (single page vs multiple pages) and assortment organization (benefit- vs attribute-based) on consumers’ perceptions of variety with large assortments.

A 2 (assortment structure: single page vs multiple pages)×2 (assortment organization: benefit- vs attribute-based) experimental between-subjects design was used to test the hypotheses.

The results suggest that with a one-page tea menu, participants perceived greater variety with the attribute-based (e.g. black teas, herbal teas, green teas, and oolong teas) menu than with the (e.g. energy-boosting, stress-relief, weight loss, and immune system-improvement) benefit-based menu. Conversely, when the menu was displayed on four pages, participants showed similar perceptions of variety across the two menu types.

In some contexts, 20 menu items may not be considered a large assortment. Also, the authors did not test consumers’ preexisting preferences.

When food service operators offer an extensive benefit-based menu, it is advisable to place the options over multiple pages. If the menu needs to be displayed on a single spatial unit (e.g. a black board, or applications on a tablet or smartphone), practitioners should organize the menu based on attributes rather than benefits.

Although the demand for healthy dining options has led many foodservice operators to apply benefit-based organization to items on their menus, for example, by using terms such as “energy-boosting,” “stress-relief,” “weight-loss,” and “immune system-improvement,” little is known about the effectiveness of such a strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of arousal fit between music (auditory cues) and plate color (visual cues) on food evaluations.

A 2 (background music: high vs low arousal) ×2 (plate color: high vs low arousal) between-subjects experimental design was employed to test the hypotheses. Participants were recruited for a taste test in a food sensory lab located in a university in the northeastern USA. The dependent variable, food evaluation, was analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

The findings of this study indicate that when the two stimuli had congruent arousal qualities, participants rated the liking and perceived quality of a food item higher than those in the incongruent arousal conditions. More specifically, when the background music was high in arousal quality, participants gave higher evaluations for a food item served on a red (vs blue) plate. Conversely, when a low arousal music piece was played, a blue (vs red) plate resulted in higher food evaluations.

This study contributes to the growing literature on cross-modal correspondence on consumers’ product evaluations. Extending previous research on the congruity effect to the food sensory literature, this study demonstrates the joint effects of background music and plate color on taste perceptions. The results suggest that restaurant operators should be strategic in their choice of physical stimuli.

The present study measured participants taste perceptions while they were exposed to visual and auditory cues. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that empirically demonstrates the impact of multiple environmental factors on taste evaluation.

The main purpose of this paper is to overview and summarize all articles published in the UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal (GRRJ) from 1994 to 2008, in order to understand the gaming research trend.

A content analysis is performed on a total of 129 articles in 24 issues of GRRJ.

The paper suggests thematic content analysis and the trend of the research in order to better understand the scope of gaming research area.

The overview of GRRJ helps identify research gaps to suggest future research.

This paper is the first review of the GRRJ. It provides an overview of the research that is available to managers and researchers interested in the gaming business.