What's in a name? If your local burger joint calls itself a 'restaurant', does it affect the way you think about it? And as your perception of it becomes more favourable, do managers need to consider a higher standard of fast food furniture to help cement that higher standard in the public consciousness?
A recent report from Mintel highlights how a focus on ingredients and more elaborate menu options is helping even convenience food retailers to make strides towards a higher standard of cuisine - and the customers appear to be responding positively to the availability of such menu items.
Roughly an eighth (13%) of Brits have now tried 'gourmet junk food' such as high-quality burgers and topped hot dogs, and a further 46% who have not say that they would be interested in doing so.
Mintel foodservice analyst Helena Spicer says: "The onus is on operators to reinvigorate consumers' enthusiasm for spending on [dining out] through techniques such as menu innovation and enhancing the experience of eating out, in order to improve on the fact that only 30% of restaurant diners agree that they enjoy splashing out on dining out."
A better dining environment could be one way to hammer home the value proposition of eating in a restaurant - even in a reasonably informal setting - by providing fast food furniture that is comfortable to sit on for an extended period, rather than the traditional hard benches designed to increase customer throughput.
Interestingly, it is not in main menu items such as burgers and hot dogs that the greatest willingness to try new options is to be found among consumers; instead, many prefer to stick to what they know for the largest component of their meal.
As such, side dishes are the best place for experimentation, and alternatives like sweet potato wedges and even 'chip flights' - incorporating a variety of chips and dips - are relatively likely to succeed even among unadventurous diners.
Don't be afraid to go large, either - 8% of all British diners have taken on a 'food challenge' in the past, and 22% would happily do so in the future.