THE DEMOGRAPHICS AND SERVICE QUALITY IN A SAMGYEOPSAL RESTAURANT IN BULACAN, PHILIPPINES: A CASE STUDY Bulacan State University – Bustos Campus, Bustos, Bulacan, Philippines 3007 Magabo, Rachelle Mae M., Maya, Kianna Franchesca N., Miranda, Regine S., Salvador, Jamuel T., Vigonte, Florinda G. Email Addresses: Rachellemae.magabo.m@bulsu.edu.ph ; kiannafranchesca.maya.n@bulsu.edu.ph ; regine.miranda.s@bulsu.edu.ph ; jamuel.salvador.t@bulsu.edu.ph ; florinda.vigonte@bulsu.edu.ph Abstract This quantitative descriptive-correlational design study aims to determine the essence of service quality in a samgyeopsal restaurant and how customers’ expectations and perceptions affect its success and failures. This endeavor takes a look at choosing the demographic of the customers in a samgyeopsal eating place and assesses the relationship of service high-quality and consumer’s possibilities. The researchers used non-experimental quantitative survey questionnaires online to collect and gather data from their respondents. One hundred two respondents participated in this study and based on the results, and service quality highly affects the success of a samgyeopsal restaurant. A samgyeopsal restaurant must meet the consumers’ perceptions and expectations to satisfy their needs and wants. Keywords: Demographics, Philippines, Samgyeopsal restaurant, Service quality Introduction Food is one of the fundamental requirements of humans in everyday life. It provides nutrients that the human body system needs. According to Singh (2016), the nutritional quality of food serves as the key driver for the growth and development of human genes. Considering this as one of the necessities for everyday lives creates opportunities for entrepreneurs and business people to establish a restaurant. Eating in a restaurant makes convenient for the people, especially for the workers, students, and the individuals who have no time to cook. Many restaurants offer different continental food cuisines like Asian, European, and Western. However, customers also considered the service quality of a restaurant to reach the satisfaction they wanted. In this study, the focus will be on what came from Korea, the samgyeopsal. Samgyeop-sal is a Korean grilled dish that refers to "three-layer flesh" or "pork belly." It is commonly referred to as samgyeopsal gui, meaning grilled pork belly, and it has become trendy nowadays. Usually, a samgyeopsal is prepared with various side dishes like kimchi, steamed eggs, fish cakes, braised baby potatoes, cucumber, and more. According to Argarin's (2021) article, samgyeopsal was introduced in the early 20th century in Kaesong, South Korea. Eating samgyeopsal has health benefits like a lot of protein, which helps the body maintain muscle mass and vitamins, minerals, and iron, according to Dr. Herben. Meanwhile, service quality is defined by American Marketing Association (2012) as to how the services are delivered to the customers; then, the customers interpret it based on their expectations. It is crucial for a business or company because it corresponds to its success or failure. According to Ryu et al., as cited in the paper of Kesharvarz, Jamshidi, & Bakhtazma (2016), the quality of service in a business is considered a critical factor to its success satisfies customers, which make them patronize this.