The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze consumer choices and service quality in university canteens in Warsaw. Our study consists of two parts. The first part of our research was conducted using a sample of 1250 adult respondents in 25 university canteens located at five higher education institutions. The reasons and frequency for using canteens, types of selected dishes and opinions on a given catering facility management system were analyzed. The second part of the study was conducted as an inspection to assess internal control and reliability of information. The respondents' opinions are not in line with inspection assessments. This may be due to the fact that students do not pay attention to the quality of services in university canteens or have little knowledge about service, quality of services or hygiene aspects. For a detailed analysis of consumer choices and service quality assessment, we used Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test and multi-dimensional cluster analysis. We identified four clusters regarding the type of meals and consumed frequency of consumption in university canteens, and five profiles in relation to evaluation of canteen interior, service and menu. In the correspondence analysis performed using the multidimensional Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) method, we identified five clusters of consumers based on nine features, i.e., canteen location, frequency of using the canteen, gender of respondents, dwelling place, financial status of respondents. Our research on the functioning of university canteens is one of the first not only in Poland, but also in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The evaluation of the quality of nutrition in canteens should be continued in order to prevent diet-related diseases. Based on the results of our research, we postulate to introduce an evaluation guide for university canteens taking into account various aspects of services.
Keywords: consumer expectations; customer service; hygiene; quality; student canteens.