Did the Older Adults´ Physical Health Affect Their Behaviors of Eating Food Away from Home in Taiwan?

The rapid growth of elderly population has arisen concern in Taiwan. With this great opportunity to serve the elderly, food service tend to be concerned about attracting and capturing these market segments. The purpose of this study is to understand what would motivate the elderly consume food away from home by using the theory of push and pull and furthermore, did physical health affect their decision to consume food away from home by comparing good and bad self-rated health condition elderly groups. A questionnaire were distribute to the elderly who were aged about 55 and older and live in Taichung district and participating in community center or senior´s organizations. Total 265 useable samples were collected. The data analysis used SPSS17.0. and AMOS17.0. Structure model was used to determine the relationship between each variable. For physical health, the self-rated health condition was measured by the questionnaire of Activities of Daily Living (ADL). The finding reveal that the data fit the model moderately well and physical health influence elderly decision to consume food away from home. The study can offer restaurants some strategies to attract more seniors such as creating an elderly friendly environment and providing better services.