Foodservice Management Research Articles

Experiences from a land-based learning project focused on local food interventions

Farm-to-school programs have many documented benefits but are typically centered around school gardens or local food procurement, which can be a limitation for schools. Land-based learning takes a student-centric approach to agricultural education, allowing students to identify and develop interven­tions to improve their local food system based on the content presented in the classroom, providing the possibility for delivering farm-to-school content outside of its traditional settings. We present findings from the evaluation of a land-based learn­ing program implemented in northern Michigan. The program engaged two teachers and their respective students across two schools, each school’s food-service directors, two local farmers, and a Michigan State University extension educator to form two Locally Integrated Food Teams (LIFTs). Students were presented content about local food procurement across 20 instructional sessions, during which each LIFT worked to develop a shared understanding of the local food system and school lunch sourcing to identify an intervention to increase the amount of local food in their school lunches. The LIFTs then proposed their interventions to Michigan State University faculty, implemented their intervention, and pre­sented the results of the intervention during the program wrap-up day. To explore the experiences of LIFT members, we conducted focus groups and collected observational data from the program par­ticipants. We find that delivering farm-to-school content in a land-based learning framework pro­vides many of the same benefits of traditional farm-to-school programs, while allowing for great­er flexibility in the construction of the program and providing additional educational benefits not com­monly discussed in the farm-to-school literature.

Snack Provision Practice in Long-Term Care Hospitals and Facilities in Korea.

The study aimed to investigate the basic data to derive plans for snack provision to improve the nutritional status of older adults living in long-term care facilities (LFs) or long-term care hospitals (LHs). The 252 respondents (118 from LHs and 134 from LFs) were included in the study. The questionnaire of nationwide cross-sectional survey was developed by the authors and registered dietitians. The written questionnaire was sent to the food service managers across 800 LFs or LHs. The online survey was introduced using the online platform and network site for dietitians. More than 70% of live-in and non-live-in LFs provided snacks, which were mainly provided one to two times a day. Most institutions provided fruits one to three times a week. The main considerations when providing fruit were in the order of residents' preference, cost, and ease of consumption. The reasons for not serving fruit included cost and differences in the residents' eating and mastication abilities. Most institutions also provided dairy products at a frequency of one to three times a week. The reasons for not serving dairy products included cost and the lack of awareness of the need to provide them. To improve the quality of life and the offer benefits of fruits and dairy products to older people, efforts are needed to propose a plan to expand the provision of snacks in appropriate quantities and varieties.

A review on hospital food waste quantification, management and assessment strategies in the eastern Mediterranean region

BackgroundHospital food wastage has been identified as a significant issue within the foodservice sector. Numerous studies have shed the light on the amount of food waste in hospitals, along with its financial and environmental implications. Consequently, reducing food waste in hospitals has become a priority for the foodservice management sector in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). AimsThis review aims to examine studies on food waste in the hospitals of the EMR countries, and highlight research gaps in quantification, management, and assessment strategies in this region. MethodsPubMed and Google Scholar databases were searched between January 6 and September 1, 2023, to identify relevant articles published up to 2023 in the EMR. ResultsSix studies were included in this review. Among EMR countries, only Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar have assessed food waste at hospitals. The average food waste in the EMR represents 25.4 % of total food served. Factors contributing to food waste include clinical issues, food preferences, meal timing, and ward sections. Patient's plate waste reduce dietary intake, affects patient's nutritional status and predispose to malnutrition. While some strategies to reduce plate waste have been proposed in many countries, there is a notable lack of food and food-related waste management policies and programs in hospitals food services in the EMR. ConclusionThis review summarizes the hospital's food-related waste assessment, quantifications, and management used by hospitals in the EMR. This review is a benchmark for the EMR's hospitals to work on adopting proactive measures as a general strategy to move toward food and food-related waste reduction.

Hospital Dietary Services

A hospital's dietary service plays a crucial role in improving the health of hospitalized patients and enhancing the hospital's reputation. To ensure a high-quality dietary service, careful planning, proper layout, systematic menu planning, and sufficient assistance and supervision during meal offerings are essential. The dietician or food service manager is responsible for ensuring that patients receive a well-prepared, balanced diet in an aesthetically pleasing manner. The individual in charge of dietary services oversees inpatient catering, diet counselling, and commercial catering. Additionally, they are responsible for education, training, and research.

Head teacher perspectives on school lunch: At variance with national policy

Objective: Previous research indicates that head teachers in Sweden frequently fail to see school lunch as part of the educational activities of a school. This study contributes to an understanding of how head teachers in Sweden perceive and experience current national policy intentions related to school lunch. Design: Qualitative inquiry. Setting: Ten municipal state schools in Sweden. Method: Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 head teachers responsible for the compulsory education of 6- to 15-year-olds in state schools. Data from digitally recorded and transcribed interviews were thematically analysed. Results: Head teachers primarily saw school lunch as a means to ensure pupils were fed and energised. Their focus tended to be on what followed after school lunch in the form of academic performance and mood, rather than the stated intentions of national school meal policy. Head teachers stressed the value of a free and nutritious school lunch for social equality, and the importance of good collaboration with food service managers and school meal personnel, despite the difficulty of achieving this. Conclusion: This paper highlights a gap between head teachers’ perspectives with respect to school lunch and official intentions stated in Swedish national school meals policy. The meanings head teachers saw as connected to school lunch were those of social equality and ensuring pupils were fed, rather than the wider potential envisioned by the authorities. This paper identifies factors that affect the possibility of realising national policy intentions for school lunch in Sweden.

Healthy School Meals for All in Utah.

The National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs reduce food insecurity and improve dietary intake. During the COVID-19 pandemic, school meals were provided to all children at no cost, regardless of income. This policy is known as Healthy School Meals For All (HSMFA). The purpose of the study was to examine the feasibility of a HSMFA policy in Utah. A mixed-methods approach was used, including qualitative interviews for policymakers, surveys for school foodservice directors, and financial modeling of Utah Child Nutrition Programs data. Analysis included a phenomenological analytic approach for qualitative data, descriptive statistics for surveys, and development of a cost model with 6 scenarios. Qualitative data revealed themes of (1) awareness; (2) responsibility; (3) perspectives on school meals; and (4) new opportunities. Most (81%) foodservice directors believed HSMFA should continue post-pandemic. HSMFA would cost $51,341,436 to $82,358,375 per year. HSMFA would result in the equitable treatment of all children regarding access to healthy school meals. Given the support of foodservice directors but the lack of political consensus, considering stepwise implementation and providing cost estimates may increase feasibility of a HSMFA policy in Utah.

Meat-Free Mondays in Hospital Cafés in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Current human meat consumption levels contribute to environmental degradation and are a risk factor for non-communicable diseases. Globally, meat-reduction policy interventions are limited. Meat-Free Mondays (MFMs) is a global campaign to reduce meat consumption to improve planetary and human health. We conducted a mixed methods evaluation of MFMs at three District Health Boards (DHBs) (one not considering a MFM policy, one that had trialled MFMs and one implementing MFMs) to investigate attitudes towards MFMs and barriers and enablers to implementation. An online staff survey and eleven semi-structured interviews with food service managers, café managers and sustainability managers were conducted. Of the 194 survey participants, 51% were actively cutting back on meat, mainly for health, environmental concerns and enjoyment of plant-based dishes, and 59% were positive towards MFMs. Qualitative analysis using a general inductive approach identified four themes: (1) 'Change and choice' (impact on personal choice), (2) 'Getting it right' (product and price, food quality, health, customer retention and sales), (3) 'Human and planetary health' (hospitals as leaders in healthy, sustainable diets), (4) 'Implementation success' (communication and education). Recommendations for implementation of MFMs included seeking feedback from other DHBs, wide consultation with food service staff, cultural and dietitian food service support and providing evidence of the success of MFMs and alternatives to MFMs.

Perceived Facilitators and Barriers to Implementing Culturally Inclusive Diets Into Hospitals and Long-Term Care Facilities.

To identify perceived facilitators and barriers to implementing culturally inclusive foods into hospitals and long-term care (LTC) from the perspectives of registered dietitians and food service directors. Cross-sectional survey. Online nationwide survey of registered dietitians and food service directors working in hospitals or LTC. We analyzed and compared participants' perceived barriers to implementing culturally inclusive foods in hospitals and LTC, assessed through a question in which we provided respondents with 13 different barriers and asked them to report the top 3. Then, we conducted a qualitative analysis of perceived facilitators, which respondents described in open-ended comments. The most common perceived barriers to implementing culturally inclusive foods were cost of ingredients (44%) and staff cultural knowledge and competence (44%). LTC respondents perceived barriers including (1) willingness of staff to adopt new practices, (2) time, (3) staff burnout, and (4) local/facility-level regulatory barriers more frequently than hospital respondents. Administrative buy-in, staff diversity, and patient considerations (eg, feedback and demand) were perceived facilitators to implementing culturally inclusive foods. Implementing culturally inclusive foods into hospitals and LTC requires administrative buy-in, willingness to change, and resources including staff diversity and cultural knowledge and awareness. Incorporating patient feedback and preferences into decisions related to dietary offerings could further motivate menu modifications. Further examination of organizational and state policies regulating diet, particularly in LTC settings, is necessary to understand both how to implement culturally inclusive foods and further, to inform investigation of health outcomes (physical and mental) associated with increasing culturally inclusive food offerings in these facilities.

Food Waste and Food Service Satisfaction among Older Adults in Nursing Homes

Food waste and food service satisfaction can be used of a good food service management. Nursing homes are an institution that also provides food service. This study aims to identify and analyze the association between food waste and food service satisfaction among older adults in the nursing home in Surabaya, Indonesia. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 63 older adults. The 3x24-hour visual Comstock method was used to identify food waste and food service satisfaction was assessed using a questionnaire adapted from the RFSQ (Resident Foodservice Satisfaction Questionnaire) and FoodEx-LTC (Food Expectations-Long-Term Care). Data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially using the Chi-square test. The association between food waste and older adults’ food service satisfaction is insignificant (p=0.115). The majority of the older adults (71.4%) were satisfied with the food service and the average of food waste was relatively low (≤20%). However, some menus still had >20% leftovers. It is important to investigate older adults’ acceptability and preferences of each menu to minimalize food waste. Menu cycle planning needs to be evaluated periodically and well-designed to meet the nutritional needs of the residents.

Healthy Food Policies Documented in University Food Service Contracts.

In the United States, there is an opportunity to improve the nutritional health of university students through the campus food environment. This project used a content analysis approach to investigate whether healthy food standards and policies were incorporated into the contract agreements between North Carolina (NC) public universities and their food service management companies. Food service contracts were collected from 14 NC public universities using food service management companies on campus. Each contract was evaluated using the 35-item North Carolina Food Service Policy Guidelines Assessment to examine four elements of the campus food environment: Beverages, Packaged Snacks, Prepared Foods, and Other (e.g., strategic placement of healthier food). Five university food service contracts incorporated no North Carolina Food Service Policy Guidelines, three university contracts included one to five guidelines, and six university contracts included six to nine guidelines. Altogether, 13 of the 35 guidelines were incorporated into at least one university food service contract. This project presents a cost and time-effective assessment method for determining if evidence-based nutrition guidelines have been included in university food service contracts. This approach and findings may lead to contract revisions to improve the campus food environment and, subsequently, the nutritional health of college populations.

Mississippi School Food Service Directors' Interest and Experience With Local Food Procurement and Farm to School Activities.

The purpose of this study was to collect updated school food service purchasing practices from K-12 public school food service directors (SFSD) in Mississippi and to determine their current abilities, experiences, and desires to engage in Farm to School (F2S) activities. The online survey was created using questionnaire items from existing F2S surveys. The survey opened in October 2021 and closed in January 2022. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Of the 173 SFSD sent email invitations, 122 (71%) completed the survey. The most common fresh fruit and vegetable purchasing practices included Department of Defense Fresh Program (65%) and produce vendor (64%). Forty-three percent of SFSD purchased at least one locally sourced fruit and 40% purchased at least one locally sourced vegetable, while 46% did not purchase any locally sourced foods. The most common challenges for purchasing from farmers included no relationship with farmers (50%) and food safety regulations (39%). Sixty-four percent of SFSD were interested in at least one F2S activity. Most SFSD do not purchase local foods directly from farmers and almost half do not purchase any local foods regardless of source. Lack of connection with local farmers is a significant challenge to F2S. Recently proposed framework by USDA for shoring up the food supply chain and transforming the food system may help reduce or remove ongoing challenges to F2S participation.

Influential factors toward the quality of dining services at continuing care retirement communities: Manager's perspective

A growing number of older adults are moving into continuing care retirement communities (CCRC) to meet their aging needs, and dining services attract critical consideration when older adults decide on CCRC. However, scarce research investigates the dining aspects of CCRC operations, and little is known about the foodservice managers' perspective on dining services. Therefore, this study explores the factors that influence the quality of dining services by interviewing foodservice managers at CCRC in the U.S. (n = 15). Nine major subcategories under generic foodservice-related, aging-related, and organization-related aspects of dining services emerged and guided the subsequent thematic analysis. Moreover, the foodservice managers' shared vision of instilling more hospitality to older adults into the future CCRC dining services was identified and discussed. This study contributes to the CCRC literature by adding foodservice manager's perspectives and providing pragmatic strategies for CCRC operators and managers to strengthen the quality of dining services for existing and prospective residents.

Comparative Study of Food Services Between State and Private Islamic Hospitals in Makassar

Institutional and industrial food delivery is an integrated program consisting of planning, procuring, storing, processing foodstuffs, and serving or serving food on a large scale. This feeding activity must be guided by the PGRS to ensure quality food so that patients can accelerate the healing process. The implementation of institutional food even though it is guided by PGRS, in fact in the field there are differences in its application, especially in hospital nutrition installations. This study aims to compare the management of food organizations and services in the nutrition installation of Islamic hospitals and general hospitals. This research is a type of qualitative research in May 2022 with a demonology approach, namely describing the implementation of management in food delivery activities at the Nutrition Installation of Faisal Islamic Hospital and Pelamonia Hospital. The subjects in this study were the head of the hospital, processing personnel, nutritionists, waiters and patients' families. The study of data collection through in-depth interviews using a list of questions. Differences in the implementation of management in food delivery activities at the Nutrition Installation of Faisal Islamic Hospital and Pelamonia Hospital which include good kitchen requirements, the needs of officers in nutrition installations, planning for food needs, procurement of foodstuffs, officers who process foodstuffs, prerequisites for processing foodstuffs, and food distribution officers. : It is expected for the Faisal Islamic Hospital and Pelamonia Hospital to evaluate by the Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia No. 73 of 2013 concerning Guidelines for Hospital Nutrition Services.

School Lunch Advisory Councils’ use of behavioural economics influences vegetable selection and waste

Introduction: Fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption is low among adolescents, and waste of these foods is high in school cafeterias. The objective of this research was to determine the impact of behavioural economic strategies and structural lunchroom changes on FV selection and waste in high-school lunch programmes using the collaborative efforts of teachers, food service directors and students. Methods: A pre-post quasi-experimental design was used to collect plate waste data for 3 days in the autumn and 3 days in the spring semesters. Five high-school cafeterias from three rural and two urban counties in Montana participated. School Lunch Advisory Councils selected and implemented behavioural economic strategies that focused on increasing selection and decreasing waste of FVs served on the main service line and salad bar. Plate waste data were collected using direct weighing and the quarter-waste method. Preintervention to postintervention plate waste amounts were compared using descriptive statistics and the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Vegetable selection at the salad bar significantly increased ( p < .05). Vegetable waste significantly decreased at the main service line ( p < .05). Fruit selection and waste did not significantly change. Conclusion: Changes in the lunchroom environment through behavioural economic strategies provide one avenue to increase selection and decrease waste of vegetables, ultimately influencing overall dietary quality among high-school students and creating more sustainable food systems.

Introducing digital tools for sustainable food supply management: Tackling food loss and waste in industrial canteens

AbstractReducing food waste is essential if we want to create a more sustainable food system, which is why halving per capita food waste by 2030 has been included in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate that by using digital tools to monitor food provisioning and management within canteens, it is possible to achieve a more sustainable food service management within industrial companies and to reduce the overall quantity and environmental impacts of food preparation and consumption thus achieving economic benefits. Longitudinal 2018 and 2019 data collected from the canteen of a major Italian food production company were analyzed. The results showed that the amount of food lost and wasted has decreased over time, reaping important environmental benefits and illustrating specific differences between the food lost in meal preparation and the food left on employees’ plates. It is therefore important to implement education initiatives and to use digital tools to share food‐related data collected within companies among both employees and kitchen and catering staff in order to raise awareness of their behavioral strengths and weaknesses. From this perspective, new interventions at both kitchen and customer/worker levels are introduced and discussed.

Students’ Perceptions of Their Student-Operated Restaurant Experience: A Qualitative Study

As there is a rapid increase in the consumption of food outside the home, it is essential that future foodservice managers are well prepared for their critical role in menu creation and nutrition care planning in a variety of foodservice establishments. Student-operated restaurants (SORs) are one method of experiential learning used to educate future foodservice managers. This study aimed to explore the students’ perceptions of their SOR experience and the extent to which nutrition concepts were incorporated in their program. This is a research area that has not been explored previously. For this study, a total of eighteen students from four universities were recruited via email to participate in interviews. Results from the qualitative thematic analysis of interview data revealed the following three overarching themes related to students’ SOR experience: (1) Interpersonal Relationships and Mentoring, (2) Assessment of Immediate Experience, and (3) Moving Forward, Added Value, and Growth. Regarding nutrition, while some students felt that nutrition principles were effectively addressed during their SOR experience, other students acknowledged a lack of nutritional emphasis in their SOR and expressed a desire for a greater application of the nutritional principles learned in other classes. The SOR experience described by students was rich as they developed a variety of relationships and skills.

Clean Technology and Food Waste Reduction in On-Site Foodservice Management Companies

On-site foodservice management companies serve many people and have been dealing with severe food waste problems. Thus, many companies adopted clean technology to reduce food waste. This study aims to provide a meaningful understanding of the role of clean technology in food waste reduction goal setting and achievement in these companies. Through 16 expert interviews, this study found that clean technology adoption can make organizational food waste reduction goals more specific by its ability to measure and quantify: specified goals lower psychological distance (temporal, hypothetical, social). When objectives are understood at a concrete (vs. abstract) level, management can better develop detailed action plans and motivate employees to be part of them. However, employees may fear that clean technology can be used as a penalizing mechanism. Therefore, inner-organizational collaboration is critical to achieving sustainability goals and offsetting the double-sided nature of clean technology.

지체장애 특수학교 급식의 학생 식생활 개선 전략 분석

This study analyzes diet improvement strategies for students enrolled in special schools for the physically disabled. Six special schools for physical disabilities at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education were selected for the study. An electronic survey was conducted from November 14 to November 27, 2022, enrolling 107 special school teachers and 227 parents as study subjects. The questionnaire for special school teachers comprised 32 questions related to demographic information of the teachers, workplace information, and diet improvement strategies for students in special schools for the physically disabled. The questionnaire for parents consisted of 36 questions related to the demographic information of parents and students, characteristics of the student’s disability, and diet improvement strategies for students enrolled in special schools. Diet improvement strategies were alphanumeric coded according to the ICF-CY coding guidelines, and frequency analysis and independent samples t-test were conducted for statistical analysis. The significance level of the statistics was 0.05, as determined by a two-tailed test. Results of this study indicate that it is possible to identify diet improvement strategies that can be applied preferentially to meals at special schools for the physically disabled. This is the first study that applied the ICF-CY Framework to school food services and coded the diet improvement strategies for students in special schools into an alphanumeric coding system. This study is meaningful since it provides information expressed in a standardized common language that can be applied in various fields related to the health of students with physical disabilities as well as school meals. These results could also find an application as basic data for the diet of people with brain lesions such as cerebral palsy, and the management and policy of food services for other disabilities.

단체급식서비스 공간 계획 요소에 대한 건축가와 급식 관리자의 중요도 인식 비교 : 학교와 산업체 급식소를 중심으로

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to derive important space planning elements through a comparison of perceptions of importance between foodservice facility managers and architects, and to present a design guideline that architects can use in remodeling or new construction. Method: For the research, the questionnaire was made based on the feedback from precedent research and preliminary surveys, and consisted of 4 major categories (architecture, indoor environment, sensibility, and convenience factors) and 23 sub-elements. A survey was conducted via e-mail to architects working in Korea and managers at schools and institutional foodservice facilities in the Yeongnam region. A total of 180 questionnaires were distributed, and 155 questionnaires out of 160 collected were used for analysis. Result: As a result of analysis, all three groups considered three elements of architectural factors (circulation, location and layout) and two elements of indoor environmental factors (Ventilation &Humidity control and Air conditioning & Heating system) as the most important ones. In particular, school foodservice managers recognized that two elements of indoor environmental factors (‘noise prevention and ‘size/ place/design of window’) and one of convenience factor (‘reasonable table configuration’) were relatively important to improve comfort in high-density school foodservice spaces. On the other hand, Institutional foodservice managers recognized that elements(‘Accessibility to the subsidiary space’ and ‘Inducing natural access from the outside to the inside through various entry types’) are relatively important to improve customer accessibility and convenience. Based on the research results, basic design guidelines that architects can use are proposed.

외식기업 관리자의 변혁적 리더십이 직무열의와 직무수행에 미치는 영향

This study aims to investigate the effect of transformational leadership by food service company managers on employee job engagement and performance. The study seeks to establish a theoretical foundation for transformational leadership in the restaurant industry, explore future-oriented ways for leaders to interact with organizational members, and enhance the efficiency of food service management. A Google online survey was conducted using a convenience sampling method on employees working at food service companies. The survey was distributed from November 26 to November 29, 2022, and 289 responses were statistically analyzed. The results of the hypothesis testing are as follows: First, transformational leadership has a positive effect on job engagement. Second, transformational leadership has a positive effect on job performance. Third, job engagement has little effect on job performance. Fourth, transformational leadership positively affects job performance through job engagement. Overall, these findings indicate that adopting a transformational leadership approach by food service company managers can significantly positively affect human resource management and organizational development.