Globalization has put companies to deal with great challenges as they make a competitive advantage against their competitors. Because of the survival pressure and evolution of a customer-oriented environment, IQM is identified as one of the critical topics, and it caused interest among managers. Local casual dining restaurants being part of the SMEs are important drivers of the local economy. The researcher aimed to assess the TQM practices and customer satisfaction among local casual dining restaurants in San Pablo City.
Significant results revealed that the majority of the employee-respondents agree on the level ofTQM implementation in their restaurants. TQM practices with the lowest means include: devising personal development plans for each employee, requiring suppliers to provide relevant quality records & data, and involving restaurant staff in defining objectives and policies. Results revealed that the TQM practices have a moderate to strong correlation to one another. It means that TQM practices are interconnected. Thus, management must look at TQM as a holistic rather than an isolated approach. Moreover, results revealed that most customer-respondents are satisfied with the quality of food, service and hygiene, cleanliness, and sanitation. The lowest means include: portioning and ensuring consistency of food products, speed of service and complaint or feedback management, and pest management, personnel grooming, and personnel hygiene. Lastly, the level of agreement in TQM practices and customer satisfaction is of the same mean score range. The researcher suggests that the level of implementation of TQM practices affects customer satisfaction. Thus, the implementation of TQM practices is critical to improving the level of customer satisfaction.