DineLight: lighting and the dining experience

This dissertation focuses on lighting and the dining experience as an experiential phenomenon at upscale restaurant setting. The aim is to better the understanding of the impact of lighting on upscale dining experiences, on a global scale. In addition, special emphasis was given to understand the theatrical approach of lighting in staging the dining experience. This research follows a sequential exploratory, mixed-methods approach, which consisted of a qualitative phase, followed by a quantitative phase. The qualitative phase gathered data in the form of interviews and observations, which was then analyzed using thematic analysis. The second phase involved creating a measure which I term, ‘DineLight,’ as an instrument to assess correlational relationships between lighting and specific dimensions of the upscale dining experience. The quantitative data was analyzed using a two-tailed Spearman's rank correlation coefficient.

Results revealed that lighting can affect four aspects of the overall dining experience; atmosphere, service, sociality, and food. This research revealed a new perspective when looking at the impact of lighting in a certain context, beyond the atmosphere perception. The results of qualitative data and quantitative data were combined and produced two main reference tables for lighting at upscale restaurant setting; lighting characteristics and approaches, and lighting fixtures. These two tables operate as guidelines for successful lighting practices in upscale restaurants. This research demonstrates the applicability of the ‘DineLight’ instrument to reveal new insights regarding the upscale dining experience, contributing not just to research in the area of lighting design, but also providing practical applications for restaurateurs and others in this industry.