Assessing Costs of Using Local Foods in Independent Restaurants

The purpose of this article was to assess process and production costs that a convenience sample of restaurants in the Midwestern region of the United States incurred using locally produced foods versus sourcing food products through national suppliers. Using a novel application of data envelopment analysis, results showed that surveyed restaurants could improve their time with the delivery process of local foods. While there was no statistically significant difference in production efficiencies measured by preparation time of menu items using local versus nonlocal ingredients, scale and establishment effects existed. This study fills a gap in foodservice literature by developing a unique analytical framework to assess multistage production cost.