Quantitative methods in measuring productivity of foodservice systems

The growing size and complexity of modern foodservices require sophisticated methods to analyze the efficiency of cook-hotholding, cook–chill (traditional and modified) and cook–freeze foodservice systems. Partial ratios coupled with regression analysis used in the past do not provide a comprehensive measurement of the overall performance. Furthermore, the multiple operational inputs and outputs of foodservices which are difficult to conceptualize as well as complex relationships between technical attributes of the systems and the so-called interfering factors (production volume, the use of information technologies, state or raw materials, age of equipment, etc.) require sophisticated productivity measurement techniques. These include the Data Envelopment, Stochastic Frontier, Thick Frontier, and Distribution Free Analysis. In this paper, the nature of the systems' inputs and outputs as well as the traditional and advanced approaches in measuring productivity are reviewed. It was concluded that Stochastic Frontier Analysis is the preferred method as it takes into account measurement error, thus allowing for additional evidence on the true structure of the efficiency frontier.