Evaluation of institutionalization state of first class certificated restaurants: The case of Turkey

Restaurants are one of the important elements of tourism business. Independent restaurants which are apart form accomodation establishments are peculiar. Nevertheless, independent restaurants have permanency problems. From this point, research aimed to ensure continuity in restaurants. Based on the literature, scale filled by Culture and Tourism Ministry certificated restaurant?s managers. Questionary forms are used to collect variables. 309 of 326 forms were replied. For evaluation of general characteristics and institutionalization dimentions; discriptive analysis, explanatory factor analyses, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis and logistic regression analysis were computed. Findings has shown that Ministry (first class) certificated restaurants have consistent structure for instititutionalization. In factor context, professionalization, organization culture and social responsability identified as the most influential dimensions. In conclusion, Ministry certificated restaurants? commercial status, long term employing, board of directors existance and chain restaurant structure were found to be influental on restaurants institutionalization. Key Words: Individual Restaurants, First Class Restaurants, Institutionalization Theory, Turkey