ABSTRACT

This research work assessed Hygiene practices and customers’ patronage of fast food services/restaurants in Umuahia metropolis. The study adopted descriptive survey research in which 3 specific objectives, 3 research questions and 3 research hypotheses guided the study. The researcher intentionally used fast food services/restaurants in Umuahia metropolis as its case study and 384 as its sample size. The research instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire on a 5 point rating scale. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze the data on SPSS version 27.0. Findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between food handling hygiene practices and customer's patronage of fast foods/restaurants in Umuahia metropolis with a correlation coefficient of (r = 0.767) and a significant value of 0.000 (p< 0.01). Secondly,  there is  a significant relationship between the level of awareness of hygiene practices among customers and patronage of fast foods service providers in Umuahia metropolis with a correlation coefficient of (r = 0.968) and a significant value of 0.000 (p< 0.01).Thirdly,  there is a significant relationship between environmental hygiene practices and customers’ patronage of fast foods/restaurants in Umuahia metropolis with a correlation coefficient of (r = 0.894) and a significant value of 0.000 (p< 0.01). Following the positive and significant relationship between hygiene practices and customer's patronage of fast food services/restaurants, based on the findings, it is concluded that hygiene practices have strong relationship with customers patronage of fast food services/restaurants. The study recommended that Fast food/restaurants owners should provide personal protective equipment for themselves and all employees and ensure they wear/use them while working. They should ensure that all food safety protocols are observed at all time and that government and regulatory agencies need to ensure that all restaurants abide by the food safety and hygienic standards, in order to prevent the occurrence of food borne illnesses and meet the expectation of consumers and stakeholders.