Abstract
Food business has become a popular trend for entrepreneurs these days. However, it seems that many entrepreneurs do not know how important is the first impression and the services offered to their guests. Consequently, many restaurants have a generally poor service, and therefore, many are closed as soon as they are opened. This study concerns more on how the first impression works in a fine-dining restaurant; hence, restaurateurs will able to know how to build on a customer’s good first impression. Previous studies, experts’ opinions, and the theories related to the topic of this study were referred and used in this study. The study was carried out in restaurant ‘C’, located in Tampere, Finland. Samples were collected from the guests who visited the restaurant ‘C’. This study contributes new knowledge regarding the first impression, and how it affects the customers’ decision behaviour as well as three different types of service clues (mechanic, humanic, and functional clues) and how they influence the customers’ perception.