Exploring the Role of Social Media and Mobile Apps for Choosing a Restaurant; Evidence from Tehran

Today, most people in most countries share their everyday experiences on social networks. This is especially true about dining out, especially among young people and students. Restaurants advertise in a variety of ways, and it is not in a way that the whole forum for exchanging of information is freely available to customers, and they make an impression in others through sharing their experiences, but the owners of the restaurants also produce films, photos, alluring clips, banners, etc. to encourage people to come to their restaurants. The present research, based on the findings of the previous researches on the role of social networks and applications in choosing a restaurant, as well as a field study of this topic in the form of a qualitative survey that employs a semi-structured interview, generally tries to answer this question: Does social networking affect choosing a restaurant in Tehran? And if yes, in what process is this effect produced? The Tehran north restaurant industry environment provides an important background that may further explain the relationships between factors influencing the success of restaurants. The participants identified key factors in the operating environment that influenced restaurant success. These included intense competition, a constantly changing environment and changing consumer trends. In particular the intense competition was considered by the participants to have a significant impact on the success of restaurants. Keywords: Social Media, Mobile Apps, Restaurant, Tehran, qualitative.