Changing Foodservice Systems

Whether it is to maintain profit margin, food cost, or staying on budget, foodservice businesses continually need to be evaluating procedures to be cost effective and stay competitive. Healthcare food-service has an additional challenge: healthcare is refocusing on patient service to become more customer driven. This refocus necessitates looking at the effectiveness in balancing patient satisfaction with cost containment. The challenge is implementing a healthcare meal service system that is cost efficient yet maintain patient satisfaction with meals. At one of the 157 Veterans Administration healthcare facilities, the balance was achieved by changing to Cook/Chill System. Patient Satisfaction Scores stayed constant while productivity increased slightly and food cost decreased.