His name was Ingvar Kamprad (the letters IK in IKEA is from his name).

The E and A comes from Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, respectively the farm where he grow up, and his home town.

And it was indeed Ingvar that was the brains behind it back in 1956, i am not really sure they had "customer research teams" back then.

I imagine it also helps with family shoppers. If the kids or one spouse is tired or bored they can go to the restaurant. Ikea's restaurant is so cheap that some people go there just for that. I think they buy their furniture and household products at ikea.

I never leave IKEA without stopping for their hot dogs. Were I living close to it, I'd go for those hot dogs frequently.

For me it's their bags of meatballs but I'd also have a hotdog just for the road home :)

Our local IKEA actually has a free crèche too, so the kids don't get bored either.

I have contemplated large purchases while in IKEA’s caf. I’ve even gone back to measure or check on different configurations. If they didn’t have them, I would have left already to eat, and possibly decided against following through on the order.

And their food prices are deliberately underpriced so you'll generalize the perceived savings onto their furniture.

It's worked on me. I hate shopping and sometimes the only reason my wife gets me to IKEA is with the promise of a pre-shopping meal + beer at their restaurant.

this is also why I like going to Costco.