Abstract:
Identifying the consumer expectations is very important to any industry as all the industries
depend on consumers. Consumer expectations change from time to time and sellers should
know what consumers really need from them at the particular moment to make more
profits and develop long lasting relationships with consumers. Consumer expectations
change due to the changes in external environment and changes in consumer’s black
box. Changes in external environment are visible to the sellers and sellers can drive their
business according to these changes. However, the changes in consumer’s black box are
not visible to the sellers and sellers may drive their business in to a wrong path without
knowing the changes in this black box. This research looked in to the consumer’s black
box and identify the expectations from the fast food outlets. Fast food industry is one of
the growing industries in Sri Lanka. This industry has evolved in the country with the
contribution of local and foreign sellers from many years ago. Researcher identified the
economic, social and cultural factors which promote fast food in Sri Lanka while studying
the background of the industry. This research focused the urban working consumers to
identify consumer expectations from the fast food outlets. Consumer expectations were
gathered in terms of food package features and service delivery of the outlet. Researcher
identified the requirements of consumers from the food package when consume the fast
food while traveling or working. Service delivery expectations were identified according to
the five factors of SERVQUAL model. Frequency of consuming fast food and reasons for
these frequencies were also identified as a result of looking in to the consumer’s blackbox.
Finally, business opportunities from the consumer expectations were concluded for the
usage of the fast food outlet owners in the country.