Experiencing food by visiting its production site

In the last decade, the key role played by the customer experience in marketing led many agrifood producers to open their production sites to customers and tourists. To date, the literature has mainly focused its attention on food products as a determinant of a destination image while the role of visits to the production site was neglected, apart from the literature on wine. Through a survey employing a structured questionnaire administered to a sample of tourists visiting the production site (a dairy) of one of the most famous Italian cheeses (Parmigiano Reggiano), customer satisfaction and engagement are verified as direct drivers of the intention to buy the food product, while learning is considered as a moderator of the relationship between customer engagement and purchase intentions. Results show the strong positive impact of customer satisfaction with the visit to the food production site on the purchase intention of the dairy’s visitors and assess the direct as well as moderating role of the learning process determined by the visit on the engagement-intention to buy relationship. Marketing implication for producers are derived.