Customer Experience in Culinary Business: A Bibliometric Analysis of Trends and Themes

This study examines the research landscape of customer experience in the culinary industry focusing on restaurants and bakeries through a bibliometric analysis of 149 Scopus-indexed publications from 1999 to 2025 using VOSviewer. The findings highlight five key research themes: emotional engagement, consumption behavior, service quality, digital technology, and service innovation via robotics. Emerging topics include authenticity, fast-food contexts, and service automation, reflecting evolving customer expectations driven by digital transformation. The United States, United Kingdom, China, and several Asian countries are identified as central hubs in knowledge production and collaboration. This study provides a comprehensive mapping of scholarly trends and suggests future research directions, including AI integration, authenticity perception, and localized customer experience strategies for culinary businesses in developing regions.