The aim of this study was to examine the effect employee empowerment has on service quality in food service firms.

The theoretical background explained in detail how service quality is defined and managed in food service firms, the meaning of employee empowerment and its various forms, and the theoretical effect employee empowerment has on service quality. It also suggested strategies derived from academic sources that were considered efficient for implementing a successful empowerment culture in food service firms.

Exploratory research, a qualitative method and semi-structured interviews were employed to collect the required information for this study. In addition, purposive sampling and convenience sampling were used to select the interviewees who were relevant to the research questions and were willing to participate at the time of the visit, in this case, restaurant managers.

The results revealed that restaurant managers hold different perspectives on service as well as the way they kept track of it. “Employee empowerment” was still a quite new concept to the majority of the interviewees although there already were some empowerment initiatives exercised in these organisations. Besides, the result showed that employee empowerment seemed to add to service quality more positive effects than negative ones, which was complementary to the literature review in the thesis. Finally, the researcher also recommended some effective methods for restaurant managers to implement a successful empowerment culture in order to improve their service quality.