Customer satisfaction survey, menu development and HACCP training to improve the food service quality of canteens

Abstract

Canteen is an important aspect of the food environment in providing healthy food and supporting good nutrition status. The food service quality of the canteens could be improved by customer satisfaction survey and followed up with staff training. This study aimed to measure customer satisfaction via surveys and identify the impact of menu development training as well as HACCP training for canteen staff. The survey was collected using an online form involving 1,022 customers. The training was attended by 31 canteen staff. In addition to menu development-training, we also conducted Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) training. Menu development training includes topics such as menu variation, creating new recipes, and food traffic light system. A descriptive post evaluation was conducted to evaluate the impact of the training. A 6-question survey to assess how well the canteen staff retained knowledge from the provided food safety training were performed. From the survey, it was obtained the mean score for each indicator as follows: 3.32 for food taste, 3.22 for menu variation, 3.48 for canteen hospitality, 3.43 for canteen cleanliness, and 3.14 for food prices. The staff gave responses that the training was useful to increase foodservice quality and board the healthy food knowledge of canteen staff. Food traffic light systems that were placed in front of the counters could help customers to choose healthier foods. The results of HACCP training showed that all participants got more than half of the questions right. The responses of surveyed staff members suggest that the training was useful in increasing food service quality as well as food safety knowledge and practices of canteen staff. Sustainability of training impacts should be evaluated to gain comprehensive evaluation and identify further intervention to improve the food quality of canteens.