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The purpose of this research paper was to examine difficulties that consumers have when choosing wine in a restaurant and whether structuring a wine list according to taste rather than origin facilitates decision-making.

The authors conducted two online studies in Switzerland to assess whether a wine list organized according to wine style categories, such as fresh and dry or bold and fruity, reduces consumers’ perceived difficulty of choice compared to a traditional origin-grouped wine list and which wine list consumers prefer. In the first study (N = 577), participants received either an origin- or a style-grouped wine list. In the second study (N = 276), participants received and evaluated both wine lists.

In Study 1, participants with the style-grouped wine list had a longer decision time, but perceived difficulty of choosing a wine was the same as that for the origin-grouped wine list. Study 2 revealed that participants strongly preferred either the origin- or style-grouped wine list. Overall, more than half the participants preferred the style-grouped wine list, indicating that many consumers may appreciate wine lists organized according to wine style.

The findings underscore that restaurants should recognize customer preferences for wine list structures, which may influence customer satisfaction.

This paper assesses consumer perceptions of different wine list structures and how these affect consumers’ selection of a wine in a restaurant.

Cross-cultural studies on differences in eating and consumer behavior have several limitations due to differences between countries, for example, in national health policies. Switzerland combines cultural diversity between the language regions, but with a common national health policy. Therefore, Switzerland provides an ideal framework to investigate cross-cultural eating and consumer behavior. The aim of this study was to combine food consumption, purchase data and sales data to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of cultural dietary differences.

Six national Swiss studies on food consumption, one study of food sales from the largest supermarket chain in Switzerland and one national study of food purchasing were included. The estimated marginal mean of each food category in each language region was calculated using linear regression and respective linear random effect models.

In the French- and Italian-speaking regions more fish was sold, bought and consumed than in the German-speaking region of Switzerland. In contrast, in the German-speaking region, more milk and dairy products were sold, bought and consumed. Language regions explained sales, purchase and consumption of foods, but the findings were only consistent for fish and milk and dairy products.

If possible limitations of cross-culture studies between countries are eliminated, cultural eating and consumer differences are still visible, even in a small country like Switzerland. For the first time, the complexity of studying food consumption, purchasing and sales is shown in one study. This indicates the importance of further studies which consider these three perspectives to better understand cultural differences in eating and consumption behavior.

Nanotechnology has great potential in the food industry. The goal of this study is to identify food applications that are more likely and food applications that are less likely to be accepted by the public.

The study was conducted in México and was a replica of a study conducted in Switzerland. Another goal is to compare the acceptance ratings of citizens from a highly developed European country to the ratings of citizens from a less developed country. Face‐to‐face interviews were conducted in three different places in México, which yielded N=378 datasets.

Affect and perceived control are important factors influencing risk and benefit perceptions. Applications that can be consumed are perceived as more controllable than applications related to the packaging or external use. The results are similar but not identical to the findings from Switzerland.

A convenience sample was used that was clearly more highly educated than the average population. One should be cautious when generalizing the findings.

It is important to pay attention to public views regarding new technologies in the food business during the product development stage to avoid some of the pitfalls that GM technology had.

This is the first study to analyze perceptions of nanotechnology applications in a less developed country. Emerging countries often do not have regulations that are as strong as those of developed countries; therefore, analyzing these markets is important, too.

The purpose of this paper is to examine consumers' willingness to buy health‐beneficial food products produced using nanotechnology.

Data were collected from two representative mail surveys conducted in Switzerland (n=255 and n=260, respectively). Consumers' decision‐making process was modeled using conjoint analysis.

Results suggest that consumers attribute a negative utility to nanotechnology foods, even though the products had a clear benefit for the consumers. Results suggest that consumers are interested in products with additional health effects only when the effect is due to natural additives.

Other descriptions of nanotechnology may result in other evaluations.

The study suggests that attitudes towards nanotechnology should be taken into account at an early stage of product development.

This paper is of value to those interested in nanotechnology and food.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the lifestyle determinants motivating wine consumption and the amount spent on it, as sales and profits depend largely on a sound knowledge of them.

Data were gathered by means of a postal paper‐and‐pencil survey sent out to randomly chosen addresses from the telephone book covering the German‐speaking part of Switzerland, resulting in a final sample size of 874.

Lifestyle determinants proved successful in explaining a great deal of the variance in the data. For wine consumption, knowledge about wine, drinking wine to relax, and sociability were the strongest determinants; for spending on wine, they were looking for bargains, visiting wine events, and regarding wine as a healthy beverage.

The research was limited by being conducted for a specific geographic area, using explorative methodology.

The identified determinants are of practical use to wine marketers, who can use them to target potentially profitable consumers. They can also create marketing campaigns focused directly on a specific determinant and thus increase consumption, spending or both.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to analyze a broad range of lifestyle variables to predict wine consumption and spending on wine.

The main objectives of this study are to develop a comprehensive questionnaire and to analyze the nature of wine market segments. Past research has focused on involvement, lifestyle or motives as segmentation criteria. The present study seeks to combine all three perspectives.

A postal paper‐and‐pencil survey was sent out randomly using addresses from the telephone book in the German‐speaking part of Switzerland, resulting in a final sample size of n=929.

A principal component analysis identified 17 factors with satisfactory reliability coefficients. Using factor scores, a hierarchical cluster analysis was run, resulting in six wine consumer segments. These segments were further analyzed and described as: the price‐conscious wine consumer; the involved, knowledgeable wine consumer; the image‐oriented wine consumer; the indifferent wine consumer; the basic wine consumer; and the enjoyment‐oriented, social wine consumer.

The methodology used to identify the wine consumer segments was exploratory. It is recommended that future work should continue to develop and validate such a methodology for the wine industry.

Wine producers and marketers should appreciate that there are different segments of wine consumers. The information provided by this research is useful for marketers who seek to gain a competitive advantage through differentiation.

This paper contributes to the academic literature by presenting a useful extension to the available segmentation literature. Combining different approaches for segmenting a market proved to be a fruitful method in identifying wine consumer segments.