Single-parent family types make up a growing percentage of the population, which could influence family dining
out decision making. The purpose of this study was to identify the family dining decision maker in various family
types and to measure what affects the family dining decision maker in choosing between casual restaurants and fast
food restaurants. To determine which family member actually chooses a restaurant for dining out, multinomial
logistic regression analyses were used for both casual dining restaurants and fast food restaurants with family type
as an independent variable and relevant socio-demographic variables as covariances. Family type appeared to be a
significant predictor, but child’s age affects the model more than family type. Child gender was the discriminating
variable for fast food restaurants but not for casual dining restaurants while household income was the significant
variable for casual dining restaurants but not for fast food restaurants. This study offers restaurant marketers’
perspective on who decide for family dining out. The results provide a basis for establishing target by family type,
children’s age, and restaurant type. Compared with previous family decision making studies, this study considered
family dining out in casual dining restaurant versus in fast food restaurant. Also, this study contributes to the
consumer behavior literature by measuring the influence of family type on family dining decision makers.

key words : Family dine-out decision, Single-parent-family, Children, Family type, Casual dining restaurant,
Fast food restaurant