Sustainable and Religion Food Consumer Segmentation: Focusing on Korean Temple Food Restaurants

Abstract

As demand for temple food has significantly grown, this study’s objective was to conduct a market segmentation analysis of temple food consumer motives in order to develop effective marketing strategies. The study identified six motives specific to Korean temple food consumption representing “health-oriented,” “ethical vegetarianism,” “meditative mindfulness,” “educational experience,” “taste,” and “environment protection.” Motives were then used to generate four distinct temple food groups named Highly Motivated, Vegetarian, Environment-Oriented and Minimally Motivated. This study provided useful information for the application of Korean temple food marketing strategies for destinations featuring this growing trend in culinary tourism.

1. Introduction

Religion continues to be an important travel motive for undertaking journeys, as over 300 million tourists are reported to make pilgrimages to religious destinations every year [1]. For instance, as there has been growing attention to Islamic tourism, hospitality services in the halal food restaurants and hotels have become new, fast-developing products that are commodified and increasingly frequented by tourists [2]. As the tourism industry explores opportunities for developing precise consumer travel segments [3], religiously conscious tourists are still considered to be an unexplored part of the Korean temple food customer segment.

Buddhism became a national religion in the three kingdoms of early Korea during the 5th century [4]. Since then, Buddhist religious philosophy has permeated into the lifestyles and politics of the Korean culture. Today, Korea features approximately 20,000 temples. Among these, 900-centuries-old traditional Korean Buddhist temples exist, located atop majestic mountains where hundreds of indigenous plant species flourish [5]. Using these natural, seasonally available plant varieties over the past sixteen centuries for ingredients, Buddhist monks and nuns have developed unique and diverse temple foods and cooking methods [6].

Korean temple food is well-regarded as being low in calories, leading to weight loss and overall improved health through vegetarian practices and principles [7]. The emphasis upon health-consciousness and wellness practices has brought forth academic and scholarly publications addressing benefits of consuming healthy food products [8,9]. The philosophy behind the Korean temple food movement is centered upon a predominantly plant-based diet that avoids meat while consuming the proper quantity of foods at appropriate times using seasonal, locally grown foods and ingredients [10]. The increasing popularity of Korean temple food has assisted in branding Korean temple food and those destination areas where Korean Buddhist temples exist. Fueled by recent media programming featuring famous celebrity chefs and internationally regarded culinary schools, Korean Buddhist temple food has entered the world’s culinary picture.

An early study by Dugan stated that as religion significantly influences individuals’ food choices and consumptive patterns, religious food has become a meaningful part of many consumers’ daily lifestyles. In line with this position, it has also been documented that Buddhist temple food has transcended from being merely an object of healthy or gastronomic desires to now representing an extension of life [11,12]. Likewise, Korean temple food has moved from strictly being a religious-oriented experience to now becoming a commercial dining and cultural experience [13]. Consuming Korean temple food can have a significant impact in forming individually desired goals and daily disciplines. As an example, because eating any animal flesh is forbidden in Buddhism, the consumption of Korean temple food reduces needless suffering and animal deaths, ultimately protecting animal welfare [4].

The Korean Temple Food Experience Center run by Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism, offers temple food cooking classes for both Korean residents and international visitors [4]. Because of the increased awareness, popularity and growing numbers of Korean temple food consumers, it is now necessary to obtain a more accurate understanding of what represents those homogenous consumer sub-markets based upon their diverse motives and other personal characteristics. In particular, a market segmentation approach can assist Korean temple food restaurants to better understand what their consumers need and prefer. Consequently, temple food restaurants could possibly become more effective in satisfying their consumers’ needs and wants, further attracting more consumers and ultimately increasing popularity. However, to date, segmentation research based on temple food consumer motivation and personal traits has yet to be addressed.

Therefore, this study was designed to shed light on the identification of Korean temple food market segments, based upon consumer motives, in order to offer practical insight to actionable direction for promoting Korean temple food and associated restaurant marketing strategies specific to temple food restaurants. Specific objectives of this study were to: a) identify the underlying dimensions representing motives directly related to the consumption of Korean temple foods; b) segment the Korean temple food consumer into distinct sub-groups based on their unique motives; c) explore differences among the classified segments with respect to their motives for experiencing Korean temple food; d) identify consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions toward the consumption of Korean temple food, and e) identify destination marketing strategies specific to consumer segments that have experienced Korean temple food.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Korean Temple Food

Developed upon the Buddhist religious philosophy and combined with traditional Korean cuisine, Korean temple food has now emerged as a unique dining experience. For centuries, Buddhist monks and nuns have based their ingredients upon the vegetation specific to the geographical characteristics of mountainsides and locations of rural South Korean temples [14]. Korean Buddhist practices and teachings have strongly influenced the temple food style. Consequently, the evolution of Korean temple food has developed into today’s unique cuisine from its original religious preparation and consumption methods practiced by Buddhist monks and nuns [14]. Ancient traditions known as “Osinchae” strictly disallow the application of pungent ingredients to their menus. Thus, the use of garlic, onions, chives and leeks continue to be disallowed, as Buddhist monks believe those ingredients interfere with spiritual meditation and act as catalysts for creating sexual desires, representing forbidden thoughts [4].

Korean temple food represents the idea of “complete consumption,” reflecting the Korean Buddhist monastic meal ceremony called “Barugongyang” [15]. All individuals must completely clean their bowls with drinking water at the end of each meal, ensuring that no evidence of even the smallest amount of seasoning remains [4]. Thus, consuming Korean temple food is beneficial to protecting the environment by reducing food waste, which is considered to be a sustainable daily life practice [16].

Additionally, Korean temple food encourages consumers to maintain positive emotions which begins with the initial cooking preparation process and ends with the meal’s consumption. This leads to positive emotions which allows for flexible thought and behavior, and further improved health and personal fulfilment [17]. This is based upon meditative mindfulness which represents meditation and is derived from historic philosophical Buddhist practices [18]. Buddhist meditative mindfulness was generated as a path that leads to the cessation of personal suffering [19] and is an important philosophical aspect of the Buddhist’s religious food. This concept assists consumers in achieving daily disciplines, including temple food preparation and consumption, which in turn become a means of spiritual and physical practices [20]. Today, Korean temple food has expanded far beyond restrictions associated with monastic food which traditionally was limited to only being consumed in temples. As a result, popular South Korean restaurants now serve variations of temple food based upon each chef’s individual interpretations of traditional recipes [21].

2.2. Korean Temple Food Consumer Motives

Health-oriented: Benefits associated with Korean temple food and health have been recognized in several early studies due to the restricted use of including only natural ingredients [22,23]. It is also known as a healing food due to the use of various medicinal herbs [24]. Naturally grown food ingredients used to prepare temple food have been proven effective for improving the digestive system and also as a detoxification procedure for cleansing the body of impurities [25]. Health-related benefits are particularly derived from the use of ginger, burdock, Korean balloon flower root and yams. The prevention of obesity, diabetes and other serious diseases has been attributed to the use of these specific ingredients [26].

Diet: Given the nutritional balance and low-fat content of the Korean Buddhist diet, temple food is widely recognized as an effective weight loss program [27]. Supporting this, a Korean Buddhist monk, “Jeokmun,” advocated that Korean Buddhist temple food represents low-calorie dishes, which in turn leads to weight-loss benefits [25]. In today’s society, losing as well as maintaining proper weight has become an extremely difficult challenge, leading to increased attention of recommended food types for healthy lifestyles [28]. Accordingly, the consumption of Korean temple food has become an extremely popular trend among consumers eager to lose weight [4].

Vegetarianism: Although the practice of vegetarianism has escalated due to the popularity of benefits associated with that lifestyle [29], maintaining strict guidelines associated with this practice is extremely difficult in South Korea due to the inclusion of some meat and/or fish ingredients in most dishes. As an example, “Kimchi,” the most popular Korean food, is prepared using Napa cabbage and fermented shrimp. Traditional Korean temple food has deviated from using a standard seafood base, substituting it with fermented soybean sauce and vegetable sauces [7]. The use of soybean curd and wheat gluten as substitutes for meat-related proteins continues to be developed for various Korean temple food dishes [30]. Thus, Korean Buddhist monks and nuns are regarded as being representative of a strict adherence to vegetarianism practices in accordance with the Buddhist doctrine [27]. As a result, the consumption of Korean temple food is recognized as following an effective vegetarian regiment [31].

Animal welfare: Issues concerning the consumption of meat products are related to individuals making ethical, personal and moral choices regarding the welfare and rights of animals [32]. Consumption of meat products is considered an inappropriate action that extinguishes the seeds of compassion and violates Buddhist teachings that say that all living beings should be embraced as oneself [33]. Therefore, Buddhism’s philosophical legacy pertaining to self-discipline training and development through meat avoidance can serve as an effective means for animal welfare and protection [29].

Meditative mindfulness: Meditative mindfulness is a representative Buddhist philosophic practice that assists individuals in dealing with their experiences, thoughts and emotions [18]. Korean Buddhism emphasizes the importance of mindfulness meditation because it is believed to reduce an individuals’ anxiety, anger, selfishness and mental stress, ultimately leading to a peaceful mindset [34]. Supporting this, Buddhist monks and nuns advocate that Buddhist mindfulness meditation can be practiced through the preparation and consumption of temple food [7]. This is due to the philosophy that a Korean temple culinary experience not only satisfies hunger and nourishes the body, but becomes an integral part of mind-training, thus improving our spiritual and mental state [35].

Educational experience: Many religions have their own nuances and restrictions related to food, which has become a fundamental element of their cultures and the immediate environment in which they exist [36]. Thus, food is incorporated into religious philosophies for many ethnic groups [37]. Korean temple food plays an important role by offering educational experience through knowledge acquisition of religious and cultural dietary norms that vary based upon geographical destination locations [30]. As evidenced, it was revealed that participants in Korean temple food cooking classes were mostly non-Buddhists visitors to the destination [14]. This implied that many consumers desire to have religious food experiences and obtain knowledge about authentic Korean temple food regardless of their religious orientations. Templestay programs became an integral part of an experiential commodity, offering educational opportunities to learn about the Korean Buddhism traditions and temple food through absorption and active participation in cultural activities at various destinations [38].

Taste: Since most Buddhist temples are located in mountainous areas, temple food is typically limited to the use of root vegetables. Due to this, temple food is primarily prepared using natural seasonings and ingredients that are locally cultivated and beneficial for enhancing temple food’s natural flavor [30]. Seasonal ingredients provide a further emphasis on freshness and taste intensity [23]. Thus, Korean temple food is widely recognized for having a mild and savory taste based upon those traditional religious beliefs that prohibit the use of pungent ingredients and artificial flavors [10]. Korean temple food can also satisfy consumers’ sensory desires by using various fermented food products which create unique aromas, authentic flavors and unique tastes [31].

Environment protection: Food waste has been a serious problem in South Korean as every meal features many various side dishes known as “Banchan” [39]. The South Korean Ministry of Environment announced that on average, about 930 g of garbage per household is thrown away every day and food waste accounts for more than 40 percent of all refuse [39]. Given this, Korean temple food production involves environmental practices, because water used to wash rice is then reused for cooking soups or cleaning dishes. This idea of “complete consumption” is driven from the Buddhist monastic meal ceremony known as “Barugongyang,” representing several Korean Buddhist teachings addressing “cleanliness” and “honorable poverty” [26]. Cleanliness indicates that people eating temple food must keep their bowls clean and they are not allowed to leave any food in their bowls. “Honorable poverty” also indicates that once temple food is served, individuals have to clean the bowl using the water called “Cheonsumul” and then they drink that water as they are finishing each meal [16]. Thus, the consumption of Korean temple food can facilitate a reduction of food waste and ultimately serve to effectively protect the destination’s environmental integrity.

Table 1. Selected studies on Korean temple food.

Source	Attributes Addressed	Sample Types	Findings
Moon (2008)	Healthy Vegetarianism Education Taste	Descriptive research	Benefits of Korean temple food were highlighted by focusing on their roles in representing a common national identity that promotes national competitiveness
Jeon (2011)	Weight-loss Eco-friendly ingredients	221 Korean temple food restaurant consumers	Consumer involvement in Korean temple food significantly affected intent to recommend and repurchase intention
Jeon et al. (2013)	Healthy Diet Mental health Taste Organic, eco-friendly	476 Korean temple food restaurant consumers	Diet and eco-friendly attributes of Korean temple food significantly affected customer satisfaction
Son and Xu (2013)	Educational experience Taste Vegetarianism	99 travel blogs including religious culinary experience	Temple food was discussed by focusing on its roles in providing a variety of educational experiences; taste of authentic traditional Korean temple food was selected as the most important factor that encouraged people to revisit Korea
Park and Chong (2015)	Prevention of disease Weight-loss Taste	245 participants in the event, ‘2014 Korean Templestay week’	Korean temple food attributes positively affected Non-Buddhist event participants’ satisfaction
Kiyomi et al. (2015)	Prevention of disease Vegetarianism Weight-loss Mental health	317 Korean residents	Effects of Korean temple food attributes upon purchasing intention were found to be higher in respondents having a low level of psychological distance towards Korean temple food
Kim and Hong (2016)	Prevention of disease Nutrition Taste Natural ingredients	120 participants in Korean temple food cooking classes	Among four attributes of Korean temple food, prevention of disease was found to have the most positive effect on satisfaction and purchase intention
Moon and Lee (2017)	Nutrition Vegetarianism Taste	304 Korean temple food restaurant consumers (residents & foreign tourists)	Korean residents consumed temple food due to innate taste, while foreign visitors consumed temple food for a vegetarian diet

summarizes prior studies on the relevant traits addressing Korean temple food.

2.3. Motivation-Based Market Segmentation

Market segmentation, introduced by Smith (1956), is defined as the act of dividing individuals into distinct groups of consumers based on common characteristics such as age, gender, interests and habits [40]. Market segmentation has been recognized as an effective marketing tool to assist organizations in obtaining a better understanding of their consumers [41]. One of the most beneficial outcomes of segmenting consumers is to gain a deeper knowledge of their wants, needs, preferences and motives for selecting various products and services by identifying what each consumer segment perceives as most valuable [42]. Accordingly, numerous studies have employed a market segmentation approach to identify better ways to effectively and efficiently satisfy those wants, needs, motives and benefits sought by consumers [43]. Thus, motivation-based segmentation has been widely adopted in a variety of food consumer study contexts. Unfortunately, despite the increased Korean temple food popularity combined with religious culinary tourism, existing market segmentation studies have neglected to examine issues related to identifying motives for consuming temple food.

3. Methodology

3.1. Survey Instrument Development

The study’s survey instrument was developed based on a comprehensive literature review. The survey questionnaire initially included a total of 32 items, with each item measured using a 7-point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree) (see

Table 2. Potential motivations regarding Korean temple food consumption.

Motivations	Sources
Health-oriented
HO1: I like eating temple food because it is nutritious and good for my health	Steptoe et al. (1995) Jeon et al. (2013)
HO2: I like eating temple food because it is healthier than other Korean food
HO3: I like eating temple food because it contains no artificial ingredients
HO4: I like eating temple food because it is prepared using ingredients produced in a safe way
HO5: I like eating temple food because it prevents cardiovascular disease
Diet
DI1: I like eating temple food because it is low in fat	Steptoe, et al. (1995) Jeon et al. (2013)
DI2: Eating temple food assists in weight control
DI3: I enjoy eating temple food because it reflects low calories supporting proper dietary considerations
Vegetarianism
VE1: I like eating temple food because it has high sensory vegetarianism advantages and appeals	Hoffman et al. (2013)
VE2: I enjoy eating temple food because it is right for vegetarianism
VE3: Eating temple food represents an important aspect of vegetarianism
VE4: I enjoy eating temple food because it is a proper vegetarian style
Animal welfare
AW1: I like eating temple food because it reflects moral concerns about how animals are treated at industrialized farms	Lindeman and Väänänen (2000) McEachern and Mcclean (2002)
AW2: I like eating temple food because it recognizes the rights and welfare of animals
AW3: I like eating temple food because its preparation respects animal rights
AW4: Eating temple food prohibits the consumption of animal-based food
Meditative mindfulness
MM1: Eating temple food is good for my emotional well-being	Steptoe et al. (1995) Schure et al. (2008)
MM2: Eating temple food increases my sense of relaxation
MM3: Eating temple food increases my emotional state-of-mind
MM4: Eating temple food helps me cope with my personal stress
Educational experience
EE1: I enjoy eating temple food because it satisfies my curiosity about religious food	Nyaupane et al. (2015)
EE2: Eating temple food increases my knowledge about religious food
EE3: I enjoy eating temple food because it heightens my cultural experience
EE4: Eating temple food helps me learn about a new culinary culture
Taste
TA1: Temple food tastes better compared with other styles of Korean food	Jang et al. (2011) Jun et al. (2014)
TA2: I like the taste of temple food
TA3: The taste of temple food meets my expectations
Environment protection
EP1: I like eating temple food because it minimizes unused food products, thus reducing waste	Lindeman and Väänänen (2000) Zhu et al. (2013)
EP2: I like eating temple food because its ingredients are grown and produced in a sustainable way
EP3: Eating temple food gets me involved in environmental protection
EP4: I like eating temple food because it is prepared using only ingredients that are naturally cultivated
EP5: I like eating temple food because it is prepared an environmentally friendly way

).

The survey’s first section was developed to identify temple food consumer motive dimensions. This information led to being able to successfully market to segments based upon the motives representing “health-oriented,” “diet,” “vegetarianism,” “animal welfare,” “meditative mindfulness,” “educational experience,” “taste” and “environment protection.” The “health-oriented” motive was assessed using five items which were modified from relevant studies identified in the literature review process [25,44]. “Diet” was assessed using three items adapted from previous literature [25,44], while “vegetarianism” was evaluated using four items identified based on Hoffman et al.’s (2013) study [45]. To assess the “animal welfare” motive, four items were adapted from previous studies [46,47]. “Meditative mindfulness” was assessed using four items based on research conducted by Steptoe et al. (1995) [44], and also from Schure et al. (2008) [48]. “Educational experience” was measured using four items adapted by Nyaupane et al. (2015) [49]. “Taste” was assessed using three items [50,51] and “environment protection” was evaluated using five items based on documentation provided by Lindeman and Väänänen (2000) [46] and Zhu et al. (2013) [52].

The survey’s final section was developed to investigate Korean temple food consumer socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age, marital status, family type, monthly income, education level), religious affiliation, frequency of consuming Korean temple food, dining party characteristics and venues selected for dining out which included restaurants, Templestay programs and cooking classes.

3.2. Data Collection and Analysis

A pilot test was conducted over a two-week period to evaluate the appropriateness of all measurement items with respect to fulfillment of the study’s objectives. The pilot study represented 100 participants whom had completed Korean Buddhist temple food cooking classes offered by the Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism during the past six months. Based upon the pilot study results, it was necessary to reword several items.

On-site and online data collection methods were used to obtain the main survey’s data set. On-site interviews were first undertaken during a four-month time period (January through April 2019) in three major metropolitan Korean areas which included Seoul, Gyeonggi and Yangsan, South Korea. A total of eleven (11) temple food restaurants located within no more than a five-minute walk from those selected Buddhist temples (Jinkwansa, Hwagyesa, Geumsunsa, Jogyesa, Myogaksa, Bongeunsa, Tongdosa, Jungtosa and International Seon center) were used as data collection points. All potential respondents were intercepted at random as they departed from temple food restaurants. The study’s objectives were explained to each potential respondent who was asked to complete the 5-min self-administered, semi-structured interview in exchange for being paid a $5 incentive for their participation. A total of 250 usable responses were obtained using this on-site data collection process. Next, an online survey company (Macromill Embrain) was employed to access its online panel. This procedure generated an additional 100 usable responses, for a combined total of 350 responses. As we utilized two different data collection methods, we performed t-tests to assess if there were any significant differences offered between on-site interview responses and online survey responses based on Hamister and Fortsch’s (2016) suggestion [53]. Results showed no significant differences in mean values of all scale items by the two data collection methods. During the data entry process, nine responses were eliminated due to incompleteness. This resulted in a total response of 341 consumers that was subsequently used for the data analysis.

Data analysis was performed using a three-step procedure [54]. In the first step, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to identify the underlying dimensions of Korean temple food consumer motives. Following this, each motive identified through the EFA process was named according to variables characteristics. In the second step, cluster analysis was implemented to segment respondents into homogeneous groups. Following this, analysis of variance (ANOVAs) was used to assess if significant differences between motives of each temple food consumer segment existed. The third step employed discriminant analysis to validate significant distinctions in Korean temple food motives across segments. To profile clusters, sociodemographic characteristics and temple food consumption patterns were evaluated for each segment using chi-square tests.

4. Results

All respondents reported their gender, age, marital status, number of children per household, education level, occupations, monthly income and religion (see

Table 3. Respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics.

Characteristics		n	%
Gender	Male	146	42.8
	Female	195	57.2
Age	20–29	90	26.4
	30–39	100	29.3
	40–49	50	14.7
	50–59	79	23.2
	60–69	17	5.0
	70 or over	5	1.5
Marital status	Single	157	46.5
	Married	184	54.0
Family type	Single-person household	51	15.0
	Multiple-person household	290	85.0
Number of children	0	173	50.7
	1	48	14.1
	2 or more	120	35.2
Education	High school	105	30.8
	Associate degree	69	20.2
	Bachelor’s degree	128	37.5
	Masters or Ph.D.	39	11.4
Occupation	Office worker	113	33.1
	Housewife	60	17.6
	Self-employed	58	19.1
	Student	33	9.7
	Other (retire or unemployed)	70	20.5
Monthly income (USD)	Less than $2000	89	26.1
	$2000–$3999	136	39.9
	$4000 or more	116	34.0
Religion	Atheist	173	50.7
	Buddhist	126	37.0
	Protestant	40	11.7
	Other	2	0.6
	Total	341	100

). The study’s respondents included more females (57.2%) than males (42.8%), primarily aged 30–39 (29.3%), or 20–29 years old (26.4%). There were slightly more married couples (54.0%) having no children (50.7%) than single individuals (46.0%). The respondents were found to be office workers (33.1%) having four-year degrees (37.5%) with monthly incomes reported to be USD $2000–$3999 (39.9%). Study respondents represented atheists (50.7%) and Buddhists (37.0%).

4.1. Identification of Consumers’ Motives to Eat Korean Temple Food

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) identified highly correlated items among the dimensions. Seven items having factor loadings below 0.5 were removed from the original 32 items initially included in the survey instrument. The remaining 25 items were used to reconduct the EFA, resulting in the generation of six dimensions. As expected, the four motives, “meditative mindfulness,” “educational experience,” “taste” and “environment protection” were successfully identified as distinct dimensions. However, the scale items regarding “diet” were found to be cross-loaded with those items found under the “health-oriented” motive, thus, those two dimensions were combined and named “health-oriented.” The items used for “vegetarianism” were cross-loaded with scale items regarding “animal welfare.” Thus, these two dimensions were combined and subsequently were re-named “ethical vegetarianism.” As a result, six distinct motives regarding the consumption of Korean temple food were generated. The appropriateness of a six-factor solution having eigenvalues greater than 1 was supported by the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure (KMO = 0.920) and Bartlett’s test of sphericity (p < 0.001) [55]. Internal reliability was tested using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients where all values ranged from 0.744 to 0.917, supporting the appropriateness of reliability for the six motivational dimensions (see

Table 4. Exploratory factor analysis results on Korean temple food consumer motivations.

Factors	Mean (S.D.)	Loadings	Variance Explained	Cronbach’s Alpha
Factor 1: Health-oriented			43.947	0.909
DI1	4.85 (1.538)	0.803
DI3	4.93 (1.500)	0.798
DI2	4.98 (1.562)	0.766
HO4	5.15 (1.582)	0.692
HO5	4.96 (1.382)	0.544
HO2	4.89 (1.457)	0.527
Factor 2: Ethical vegetarianism			10.231	0.917
AW3	4.93 (1.713)	0.814
AW2	4.94 (1.687)	0.799
AW4	4.76 (1.716)	0.756
AW1	5.25 (1.648)	0.687
VE2	5.12 (1.511)	0.583
VE1	4.92 (1.649)	0.580
Factor 3: Meditative mindfulness			6.656	0.912
MM3	4.16 (1.475)	0.823
MM2	4.06 (1.464)	0.802
MM4	4.11 (1.516)	0.795
MM1	3.89 (1.517)	0.644
Factor 4: Educational experience			6.089	0.849
EE3	4.34 (1.538)	0.777
EE2	4.24 (1.473)	0.763
EE1	4.92 (1.507)	0.761
EE4	4.73 (1.504)	0.687
Factor 5: Taste			4.318	0.855
TA2	3.98 (1.472)	0.870
TA1	4.57 (1.477)	0.810
TA3	4.05 (1.592)	0.784
Factor 6: Environment protection			4.005	0.744
EP3	4.84 (1.599)	0.881
EP4	4.87 (1.439)	0.865

).

Factor 1, “health-oriented” was identified as having the largest proportion of the total variance (43.95%) and included six statements representing temple food attributes associated with low calories, low fat, containing no artificial ingredients, being cooked in a safe way, being beneficial for losing weight, and for preventing disease. Factor 2 represented the second largest proportion of total variance (10.23%) and included six statements associated with temple food attributes related to respecting animal rights, protecting animal welfare and pursuing vegetarianism. Therefore, this motivation factor was named “ethical vegetarianism.” Factor 3 included four items representing temple food being beneficial for effectively dealing with stress, emotional pain and increasing the sense of relaxation in the preparation and consumption of Korean temple food. Thus, the third factor was labeled “meditative mindfulness.” Factor 4 contained four items regarding the benefits of eating Korean temple food such as the experience of new culinary culture, increasing knowledge about unique religious food, satisfying curiosity about temple food and cultural experience. Thus, the fourth factor was labeled “educational experience.” Factor 5 included three items representing Korean temple motives due to the uniqueness of flavor and taste. Thus, the fifth factor was labeled “taste.” Factor 6 included two items representing temple food attributes regarding the use of organic ingredients and effectively reducing food waste. Therefore, the sixth factor was named “environment protection.”

4.2. Segmentation of Korean Temple Food Consumers

The six motives associated with the consumption of Korean temple food identified through the EFA procedure were employed as a set of variables to segment the study’s respondents. A two-step cluster analysis procedure classified a total of 341 respondents into four distinct Korean temple food consumer segments. ANOVA results found significant differences in the six-dimensional motives across the four consumer segments (p < 0.001), supporting the appropriateness of the four-cluster solution (see

Table 5. Comparisons of Korean temple food consumer motives across the four segments.

Factors	Segment 1: Highly Motivated (n = 65, 19.06%)	Segment 2: Vegetarian (n = 109, 31.96%)	Segment 3: Environment-Oriented (n = 85, 24.93%)	Segment 4: Minimally Motivated (n = 82, 24.05%)	F value
Health-oriented	6.03 (0.62) a	5.69 (0.68) b	4.30 (1.14) c	3.83 (0.93) d	121.413 ***
Ethical vegetarianism	6.06 (0.85) a	5.98 (0.72) a	4.08 (1.12) b	3.75 (0.98) c	148.593 ***
Meditative mindfulness	5.48 (0.89) a	4.50 (0.89) b	2.64 (0.94) d	3.81 (0.87) c	135.837 ***
Educational experience	5.50 (0.91) a	5.28 (0.73) a	3.53 (1.14) c	3.91 (0.95) b	92.057 ***
Taste	5.04 (1.04) a	4.80 (1.23) a	3.25 (1.09) c	3.74 (1.07) b	47.171 ***
Environment protection	3.29 (0.94) d	5.40 (0.83) b	6.09 (0.67) a	4.08 (1.03) c	163.824 ***

Note: ^a–c in each row represents significant differences using Duncan’s multiple range tests at *** p < 0.001.

).

Segment 1 (n = 65, 19.06%) was named Highly Motivated because it contained the highest mean scores for five of the six motives including “health-oriented” (6.03^a), “ethical vegetarianism” (6.06^a), “meditative mindfulness” (5.48^a), “educational experience” (5.50^a) and “taste” (5.04^a). Although “environmental protection” (3.29^d) was found to represent the lowest value, this segment was considered to be highly motivated in terms of eating temple food that satisfies expectations about the other five motives.

Segment 2 (n = 109, 31.96%) was labeled Vegetarian because it achieved the highest mean score on “ethical vegetarianism” (5.98^a), followed by “health-oriented” (5.69^b), “environment protection” (5.40^b) and “educational experience” (5.28^a). Research by Hoffman et al. (2013) proposed a comprehensive definition of vegetarians by encompassing both health-oriented and ethical-oriented traits. Supporting this, this segment was found to have higher motives related to ethical vegetarianism and health benefits.

Segment 3 (n = 85, 24.93%) was named Environment-oriented because it demonstrated the greatest mean score for “environment protection” (6.09^a), but generated significantly lower scores on the other motives (i.e., “educational experience” (3.53^c), “taste” (3.25^c), and “meditative mindfulness” (2.64^d). This segment was viewed to have a higher perception regarding the importance of eco-friendly practices that can be implemented through consuming Korean temple food.

Segment 4 (n = 82, 24.05%) was named Minimally Motivated because it produced the lowest overall mean scores for “health-oriented” (3.83^d), “ethical vegetarianism” (3.75^c), “meditative mindfulness” (3.81^c), and “environment protection” (4.08^c). These results implied that temple food consumers included in this segment were less motivated to actually eat Korean temple food.

4.3. Characteristics of Korean Temple Food Consumer Segments

A series of Chi-square tests were implemented to confirm whether or not the four temple food consumer segments were significantly different in terms of their sociodemographic characteristics, which included religion, and their consumption patterns (see

Table 6. Characteristics of the four segments: sociodemographic and religion.

Characteristics		Segment 1: Highly Motivated (n = 65, 19.06%)	Segment 2: Vegetarian (n = 109, 31.96%)	Segment 3: Environment-Oriented (n = 85, 24.93%)	Segment 4: Minimally Motivated (n = 82, 24.05%)	χ2
Gender	Male	19 (29.2)	31 (28.4)	53 (62.4)	43 (52.4)	30.453 ***
	Female	46 (70.8)	78 (71.6)	32 (37.6)	49 (47.6)
Age	20–29	8 (12.3)	28 (25.7)	29 (34.1)	25 (30.5)	28.567 *
	30–39	20 (30.8)	28 (25.7)	26 (30.6)	26 (31.7)
	40–49	14 (21.5)	13 (11.9)	14 (16.5)	9 (11.0)
	50–59	13 (20.0)	33 (30.3)	14 (16.5)	19 (23.2)
	60–69	7 (10.8)	6 (5.5)	2 (2.4)	2 (2.4)
	70 or over	3 (4.6)	1 (0.9)	0 (0)	1 (1.2)
Marital status	Single	19 (29.2)	51 (46.8)	46 (54.1)	41 (50.0)	10.167 *
	Married	46 (70.8)	58 (53.2)	39 (45.9)	41 (50.0)
Number of family	Single-person	14 (21.5)	13 (11.9)	10 (11.8)	14 (17.1)	3.970
	Multi-person	51 (78.5)	96 (88.1)	75 (88.2)	68 (82.9)
Number of children	0	24 (36.9)	52 (47.7)	52 (61.2)	45 (54.9)	14.119 *
	1	15 (23.1)	11 (10.1)	10 (11.8)	12 (14.6)
	2 or more	26 (40.0)	46 (42.2)	23 (27.1)	25 (30.5)
Education	High school	22 (33.8)	31 (28.4)	28 (32.9)	24 (29.3)	12.157
	Associate degree	6 (9.2)	22 (20.2)	19 (22.4)	22 (26.8)
	4-year degrees	27 (41.5)	39 (35.8)	31(36.5)	31 (37.8)
	Masters or Ph. D	10 (15.4)	17 (15.6)	7 (8.2)	5 (6.1)
Occupation	Office worker	21 (32.3)	39 (35.8)	26 (30.6)	27 (32.9)	10.321
	Housewife	12 (18.5)	21 (19.3)	12 (14.1)	15 (18.3)
	Self-employed	13 (20.0)	19 (17.5)	15 (17.7)	18 (22.0)
	Student	3 (4.6)	8 (7.3)	11 (12.9)	11 (13.4)
	Retired/unemployed	16 (24.6)	22 (20.2)	21 (24.7)	11 (13.4)
Monthly income (USD)	Less than $ 2000	15 (23.1)	26 (23.9)	22 (25.9)	26 (31.7)	8.568
	$2000−$3999	23 (35.4)	39 (35.8)	37 (43.5)	37 (45.1)
	$4000 or more	27 (41.5)	44 (40.4)	26 (30.6)	19 (23.2)
Religion	Atheist	23 (35.4)	56 (51.4)	48 (56.5)	46 (56.1)	21.676 *
	Buddhist	31 (47.7)	40 (36.7)	26 (30.6)	29 (35.4)
	Protestant	9 (13.8)	13(11.9)	11 (12.9)	7 (8.5)
	Other	2 (3.1)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)

* p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001.

and

Table 7. Characteristics of the four segments: Korean temple food consumption patterns.

		Highly Motivated (n = 65, 19.06%)	Vegetarian (n = 109, 31.96%)	Environment-Oriented (n = 85, 24.93%)	Minimally Motivated (n = 82, 24.05%)	χ2
Frequency (during the past six months)	1–2 times	26 (45.6)	53 (53.0)	46 (71.9)	47 (70.1)	14.231 *
	3–4 times	11 (19.3)	16 (16.0)	7 (10.9)	9 (13.4)
	5 or more times	20 (35.1)	31 (31.0)	11 (17.2)	11 (16.4)
Companion type	Family	42 (64.6)	56 (49.5)	51 (60.0)	50 (61.0)	27.996 *
	Friends	18 (27.7)	48 (44.0)	21 (24.7)	27 (32.9)
	Alone	4 (6.2)	7 (6.4)	7 (8.2)	3 (3.7)
	Other	1 (1.5)	0 (0)	6 (7.1)	2 (2.4)
Place	Festivals or events	31 (47.7)	56 (51.4)	51 (60.0)	38 (46.3)	14.065
	Restaurant	13 (20.0)	28 (25.7)	13 (15.3)	23 (28.0)
	Temple Stay	5 (7.7)	10 (9.2)	11 (12.9)	11 (13.4)
	Cooking class	4 (6.2)	5 (4.6)	2 (2.4)	1 (1.2)
	Other	12 (18.5)	10 (9.2)	8 (9.4)	9 (11.0)
Information source	Recommendations	32 (49.3)	49 (45.0)	46 (54.1)	46 (56.1)	16.956
	TV /Radio	18 (27.7)	25 (22.9)	20 (23.5)	16 (19.5)
	Social Media	5 (7.7)	19 (17.4)	11 (12.9)	11 (13.4)
	Websites	7 (10.8)	10 (9.2)	8 (9.4)	3 (3.7)
	Travel agency	3 (4.6)	6 (5.6)	0 (0)	6 (7.3)

* p < 0.05.

).

The Highly Motivated segment included more females being married (70.8%) and had the highest proportion of the respondents aged 30–39 (30.8%), followed by those in the 40–49-year-old category (21.5%) and the 50–59-year-old range (20.0%). This segment represented consumers in a multi-person household (78.5%), reporting having two or more children (40.0%) in their immediate household as opposed to having no children (36.9%), or only one child (23.1%). This segment was found to hold post-graduate degrees (56.9%) and earned $4000 or more per month (41.5%). Interestingly, the highest percentage of its members identified as Buddhist (47.7%) compared to other categories such as atheist (35.4%) and protestant (13.8%).

In terms of Korean temple food consumption patterns during the past six months, the Highly Motivated segment included a large proportion of consumers having previously eaten Korean temple food once or twice (45.6%), followed by those consumers having eaten temple food five or more times (35.1%). In terms of companion type, this group had the highest percentage of respondents eating temple food with families (64.6%) and friends (27.7%). Members of the Highly Motivated segment reported eating Korean temple food primarily at festivals or events (47.7%) and restaurants (20.0%). It was found that this segment’s members obtained information regarding Korean temple food through recommendations from friends/family (49.3%), and from TV or radio (27.7%).

The Vegetarian segment represented married (53.2%) females (71.6%) and contained the highest proportion of 50–59-year-old consumers (30.3%). This was followed by two age segments of 20–29 (25.7%) and 30–39-year-old (25.7%) consumers. This result implies that temple food attributes related to “health-oriented” and “ethical vegetarianism” may be more attractive to older consumers and also to consumers between the ages of 20–39 years old, which cumulatively represented over half of all respondents in this group (51.4%). This segment included consumers in multi-person households (88.1%) having two or more children (42.2%). Additionally, it was found that this segment had the largest proportion of the respondents earning post-graduate degrees (51.4%) and earning $4000 or more per month (40.4%). Finally, this segment was found to primarily represent atheists (51.4%).

Members of the Vegetarian segment contained a high percentage of respondents who had previously eaten temple food once or twice (53.0%), followed by those consumers who have eaten temple food five or more times (30.1%), doing so with their families (49.5%) and friends (44.0%). This segment was found to have the highest percentage of respondents who ate temple food at festivals or events (51.4%), compared with restaurant dining (25.7%). Information regarding Korean temple food was received from recommendations (45.0%) and TV or radio (22.9%).

The Environment-oriented segment was found to include more males (62.4%) with the highest portion of the age group representing 20–29-year-olds (34.1%), earning four-year degrees (36.5%). As this segment reflected the largest number of young temple food consumers, this segment included more single respondents (54.1%), residing in multi-person households (88.2%). This finding possibly indicated that they still lived with their parents. This segment included the highest percentage of office workers (30.6%), earning $2000–$3999 per month (43.5%). Respondents primarily were atheists (56.5%), followed by Buddhists (30.6%).

With respect to this group’s consumption patterns, the Environment-oriented segment found that most respondents had eaten Korean temple food once or twice (71.95%) with family (58.8%) at festivals or events (60.0%). Information about temple food was obtained from recommendations (54.1%), TV/radio (23.5%), or from other social media sources (12.9%).

The Minimally Motivated segment included more males (52.4%) and the highest percentage of respondents between 30–39 years old (31.7%). This segment included temple food consumers divided equally as being either single (50.0%) or married (50.0%) and having no children (54.9%). The Minimally Motivated segment members almost exclusively resided in a multi-person household (82.9%) and represented the largest proportion of respondents with four-year degrees (37.8%). Additionally, it was noted that this segment included the highest percentage of office workers (32.9%), followed by housewives (18.3%). This segment reported monthly incomes earnings between $2000–$3999 (45.1%), or less (31.7%), representing the lowest income level group. This segment reflected primarily atheists (56.1%) followed by Buddhists (35.4%).

In terms of their consumption patterns, the Minimally Motivated segment reported eating Korean temple food once or twice (70.1%) with family (56.1%) and friends (19.5%) at festivals or events (46.3%) and in restaurants (28.0%). This consumer segment found information regarding temple food from recommendations by others (56.1%), from TV/radio (19.5%) and from social media (13.4%).

Discriminant analysis was further employed to validate an appropriateness of the four-segment classification [56]. As presented in

Table 8. Discriminant analysis results: eigenvalue, Wilk’s Lambda and structure matrix.

Function	Eigenvalue	% of Variance	Canonical Correlation	Wilk’s Lambda	χ2	df	p-Value
1	3.338a	69.3	0.877	0.090	806.985	18	<0.001
2	1.416a	29.4	0.766	0.390	315.438	10	<0.001
3	0.062a	1.3	0.241	0.942	19.998	4	<0.001
		Function 1		Function 2		Function 3
Meditative mindfulness		0.599		0.076		0.253
Educational experience		0.439		0.347		0.329
Taste		0.325		0.209		0.321
Ethical vegetarianism		0.472		0.639		−0.139
Environment protection		−0.515		0.630		0.394
Health-oriented		0.425		0.565		−0.666

Note: 95.3% of original grouped cases and 95.0% of cross-validated grouped cases were correctly classified.

, the three discriminant functions generated were all significant, with the Wilks’ lambda values for all three being reported as significant. Function 1, with an eigenvalue of 3.338 and a canonical correlation value of 0.877, explained 69.3% of the total variance. Function 2 displayed an eigenvalue of 1.416 with a canonical correlation value of 0.766 and explained a variance of 29.4%. Function 3 had an explained variance of 1.3% with an eigenvalue of 0.062 and a canonical correlation value of 0.241. As well, a classification test with the cross-validity method measuring hit ratio was performed to verify the power of the discrimination functions [55]. Results showed that 95.3% of cases in the original data were found to be correctly classified, which was deemed to be accurate.

5. Conclusions and Implications

5.1. Theoretical Implications

This study identified consumers’ motives for eating Korean temple food in order to classify those temple food consumers into distinct segments. The study’s analyses successfully identified six motives associated with eating Korean temple food, representing dimensions named “health-oriented,” “ethical vegetarianism,” “meditative mindfulness,” “educational experience,” “taste” and “environment protection.” Coincidentally, taste and health-oriented attributes are commonly addressed as representative attributes of Korean temple food [25,30]. The existing literature examined Korean temple food from the aspect of benefits for healing and preventing disease. However, the “health-oriented” motive identified in this study had a deeper perspective in today’s world of health consciousness by incorporating the motive for consuming Korean temple food for regular and daily dietary benefits. This implied that consumers might use Korean temple food more consistently because it offers desirable dietary considerations.

This study also identified “meditative mindfulness” as an important motive for consuming Korean temple food. It has been known that people can train and control their emotions and mind throughout the various stages of temple food preparation and consumption [57]. Therefore, consumers might be motivated to eat Korean temple food based on their expectation that it will be able to release stress or anxiety and also to achieve emotional well-being. In addition, “educational experience,” was found as one of the motives to eat Korean temple food. Visitors always look for opportunities to learn and experience new culture and authenticity in a destination. In doing so, they explore ethnic culinary culture because food retains a region’s cultural identity the most [6]. Consistently, religious food plays an important part for visitors to understand culinary culture and can satisfy curiosity and provide a learning opportunity [30]. Thus, “educational experience” would be an important component to motivate people to consume Korean temple food.

In an effort to expand knowledge about Korean temple food consumer motives, this study successfully identified two new motives, “ethical vegetarianism” and “environment protection.” Several studies documented that individuals are likely to eat temple food because they are vegetarian or they prefer a vegetarian diet [58,59]. Likewise, prior research examined temple food as a means of practicing vegetarianism in consideration of its benefits for being good for one’s health. However, “ethical vegetarianism” newly identified in this study represented a separate and distinct concept from health-related motives because it incorporated the motive, “animal welfare,” within the vegetarianism concept. This represented a separate, newly discovered motive apart from those health-oriented motives discussed in past research. This finding was supported by Hoffman et al. (2013) who asserted that ethical concerns about animal rights and welfare are major motives for becoming a vegetarian [45].

Prior studies addressed Korean temple food from the limited perspective that focused upon using eco-friendly or organic food ingredients [22,25]. However, this study focused on a unique aspect involving the consumption of Korean temple food that could be effective to reduce food waste through implementing the Korean Buddhist meal ceremony, “Barugongyang.” This led to the identification of another important motive, “environment protection.” This finding indicated that individuals might be motived to consume Korean temple food as a consequence for practicing eco-environmental and sustainable behaviors.

5.2. Practical Implications

Based upon the six motives documented in this research, our study identified four distinct segments of Korean temple food consumers that were named: Highly Motivated, Vegetarian, Environment-oriented and Minimally Motivated. In consideration of each segment’s unique characteristics regarding socio-characteristics and temple food eating patterns, possible Korean temple food market strategies were developed (see Figure 1).

Segment 1, the Highly Motivated segment, included a large portion of temple food consumers who were married, had more than two children, were between 30–39 years old, and earned $4000 or more per month. Additionally, due to their frequent temple food dining behavior, Highly Motivated segment members should be the most profitable group. This segment should be targeted to enhance their involvement in a variety of temple food-related activities such as educational opportunities for properly preparing temple food in their homes, dining out at special theme nights hosted by temple food restaurants and participating in temple food special events and festivals. It is recommended that temple food marketers and temple food restaurant managers create menu items having more diversity in order to expand their appeal to families having young children. This would create an inducement for consumers to engage their young children to dine out at temple food restaurants. Although temple food represents a health-oriented vegetarian style of food preparation involving minimal seasoning to enhance the natural flavor of the ingredients, it could be perceived by children as being unfavorable due to its neutral taste. Therefore, creating a variety of dishes using other ingredients made from beans would be more satisfying to those young children’s taste preference.

This segment was found to represent consumers having a high level of monthly income. Thus, fine dining restaurants could create and feature menu items having high quality temple food to attract more consumers. Due to their family household structure, the Highly Motivated segment may be inclined to participate in special events and food festivals where enjoying family time with their young children is encouraged. Therefore, temple food restaurants should consider developing and providing more interesting and special foods and programs featuring various activities involving temple food, such as cooking classes for children.

Segment 2, the Vegetarian segment, reflected a disproportionate number of female consumers (71.5%) between 50–59 years of age (30.3%). Among these group members, about one in five were found be a housewife. Over a quarter of this segment indicated having previously experienced consuming temple food with friends. In particular, this segment represents vegetarians supporting health and/or animal welfare. Therefore, the availability of various nutritious and healthy vegetarian food choices could play a crucial role in satisfying this segment’s wants and preferences. Thus, temple food marketers should effectively promote Korean temple food by highlighting the benefits that can be offered by consuming temple food. For example, health-oriented vegetarians in this segment would favor the naturally prepared flavor of Korean temple food that deliberately abstains from using pungent ingredients. Ethical vegetarians may be highly predisposed to the philosophy of Korean Buddhist teachings that strictly prohibit animal flesh in meal preparations, further protecting animal welfare. Thus, it would be beneficial to introduce and highlight Korean temple food at worldwide festivals or events such as Annual Slow Food festivals, focusing on high quality foods that are clean and ethically grown, demonstrating how representative Korean temple food is properly prepared. Using this strategy could expose large numbers of consumers to temple foods to educate the masses on the concept and benefits of eating healthy and ethically produced Korean temple food.

Another opportunity designed to target housewives within this segment could be to introduce user-friendly temple food recipes within integrated social media, such as through television food channel programming, radio, and YouTube web-based platforms. Finally, because this segment reported having previously eaten temple food with friends, food marketers should explore the possibility of serving traditional temple food at non-temple food restaurants in order to promote this food style to the Vegetarian segment and their dining party members.

Segment 3, the Environment-oriented segment, reflects single, young males between 20–29 years of age (34.15%). This segment was identified based on their motives associated with the consumption of Korean temple food due to the environment-friendly attributes associated with the food style. In particular, this segment can be categorized into either Generation Y or Z. Generation Y has been recognized as the most powerful consumer group specifically for dining-out very frequently [50], while Generation Z has been described as the Internet Generation, or iGen, whom prefer to interact online with others [60].

In this regard, Korean temple food marketers should promote the Korean Buddhist dining ceremony through social media. This ceremony, known as “Barugongyang,” prohibits food waste, thus consumers must completely finish their meal when dining. Food marketers can also attempt to more effectively use social network service (SNS) to introduce temple food, associated recipes, and required culinary skills involved with temple food preparation by creating and then posting videos of this food type using human brands. This could be done by using well-known monks and celebrity chefs who could then personally demonstrate temple food production methods targeted towards these younger generations.

Three out of every five respondents (60.0%) in this segment indicated having eaten temple food while attending festivals and events. Having this knowledge should equip temple food festival and event marketing professionals to collaborate with environment protection organizations to inform this segment about those eco-friendly benefits associated with consuming Korean temple food. As an example, a small percentage of each temple food sale could be designated to a non-profit environmental organization.

Segment 4, the Minimally motivated segment, reflects low income consumers earning less than $2000 per month (31.7%). Although limited in household monthly income, this segment indicated having eaten temple food at restaurants (28.0%) once or twice per year (70.2%). Perhaps there is a perception of value associated with temple food that should be further marketed. This segment may consider temple food to be available to taste only at Buddhism-related events or temples, thus marketing should help educate this segment and promote the availability of this food style more aggressively. A more plausible strategy would be to present opportunities to food service businesses for developing take-out restaurants designed around the temple food theme. In this manner, reasonably priced, casual and quick-service restaurants would be able to develop a new design oriented towards value for the price paid by the fixed income dining segment.

As the Minimally motivated segment members reported obtaining information on Korean temple food from others, as well as from television and radio, Korean temple food markers should attempt to develop more attractive advertisements regarding temple food to motive this segment to frequent Korean temple food establishments regularly.

5.3. Limitations and Future Research

This study had some limitations that should be taken into account for further research. The first limitation is that the study’s data were obtained only from three cities in Korea. Due to this, findings cannot be fully generalizable to overall temple food consumers’ diverse motives. Hence, it would be necessary to conduct similar surveys in different regions of Korea and eventually in other global markets to observe how consumers differ with respect to motives for eating temple food. The second limitation is that this study used consumers’ motives for the consumption of Korean temple food based on temple food attributes employed by many previous researchers regarding market segmentation and relationships between Korean temple food attributes and consumer satisfaction. In this regard, future researchers need to identify more diverse Korean temple food attributes that could be applied to further market segmentation studies. The third limitation is that this research study had a relatively small number of samples. Since the purpose of a market segmentation study is to divide consumers into distinct groups, future research needs to collect more samples to investigate a wide range of consumer characteristics. This is needed to effectively classify consumers into distinct groups based on their motives and identify their demands for temple food in order to create effective marketing strategies to popularize temple food.