RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LABOR PRODUCTIVITY AND FACTORS OF PRODUCTION IN HOSPITAL AND HOTEL FOODSERVICE DEPARTMENTS - EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE OF A TYPOLOGY OF FOOD PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

Abstract

A postal survey of up-scale hotels and large hospitals in the UK was used to investigate the relationship between labor productivity and three factors of production: the use of ready prepared vegetables, the amount of equipment available and the use of cook-chill technology. It was found that, both for the hotels and hospitals in the sample, there was a clear positive correlation between labor productivity and both the use of ready prepared vegetables and the use of cookchill. In contrast, there was a negative correlation between labor productivity and the use of large amounts of equipment. In order to establish the presence of natural typologies of production, cluster analyses were conducted separately on the hospital and hotel data. The analysis for hospitals demonstrated three clear clusters, equivalent to three typologies of production: (1) conventional production, (2) production using large amounts of ready prepared vegetables and (3) production using both ready prepared vegetables and cook-chill. Significantly, the third typology had a much higher labor productivity than was the case for the other typologies. In the case of the hotels, cluster analysis did not indicate such clear typologies. Although six clusters could be identified, these clusters were not so clearly related to differences in labor productivity.