Analysis of Current Operational Practices and Issues of Contract-Managed Foodservice Companies in Republic of Korea

This study was surveyed to provide the information on current operational practices and issues of contract-managed foodservice companies. Questionnaires were distributed to 79 contract-managed foodservice companies (eight large-size, 48 mid-size, 23 small-size companies) from March to May in 2002. The contract-managed foodservice companies provided averages of 269,184 (range 140,036~503,500), 14,837 (range 450~75,269), and 4,065 (range 930~8,050) meals daily from large, medium, and small-size companies, respectively. The companies managed to averages of 268.2 (160~619) foodservice contracts at large-size companies, 21.9 (5~63) contracts at mid-size companies, and 4.7 (1~10) contracts at small-size companies. The average numbers of dietitians were 298.6 (range 104~671) in large-size companies, 22.2(6~86) in mid-size companies, and 3.8(1~9) in small-size companies. The averages of sales were 156.5 billion at large-size companies, 6.7 billion at mid-size companies, and 1.7 billion at small-size companies in 2001. The contract was two types including management fee contract(5%), and profit and loss contract(95%). The cost ratios for office foodservice were 59.5% at food cost, 24.2% at labor cost, 6.3% at profit, and 10.1% at other cost. For hospital foodservice, the ratios were 54.0% at the food cost, 34.6% at labor cost, 3.0% at profit, and 11.8% at other cost. For high school foodservice, the ratios were 62.2% at the food cost, 21.5% at labor cost, 5.4% at profit, and 11.2% at other cost. When the contractors managed to the foodservice, the most important matters were the sanitation management and customer satisfaction. Also, the difficult problems were excess investment of equipments and low meal prices.

Human Resource Management on Dietitians in Contracted Foodservice Companies

This study was conducted to identify dietitians' position and role by assessing the present condition on management of human resources in contracted foodservice management company. Questionnaires were distributed to 79 contracted companies (eight large-size, 48 mid-size, 23 small-size companies) from March to May in 2002. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSSwin (version 8.0). The data were analyzed in group comparisons using frequencies and percentage for every item in the questionnaires, x2-test, and oneway ANOVA. About eighty-five percent of contracted foodservice companies employed the new dietitians as full time employees, and seventy-five percent of them were promoted the dietitians by evaluation after a given period of time. As a starting payment for university graduates, large-size companies payed an average of 16,260,000 won/year, which was significantly higher (p<0.01) than those of mid-sized (11,320,000 won/year) and small-sized companies (11,620,000 won/year). The mean lengths of dietitians' service were 33.5 months in large-size companies, 26.5 months in mid-sized companies, 26.0 months in small-sized companies. It was less than 3 years in all companies (avg. 26.9 months). Fifty-four companies (68.4%) employed dietitians in each foodservice contract, whereas 25 companies didn't employ dietitians. The ratios of dietitians out of employees in each department of the companies were 42.6% in the department of contracted foodservice management, 19.9% in the department of menu development, 18.1% in the department of food safety, 8.7% in the department of distribution and purchase, 4.2% in the department of business, and 3.9% in the department of customer satisfaction. The dietitians' positions were directors in two companies (2.5%), general managers in two companies (2.5%), deputy managers in seven companies (8.9%), managers in twenty-nine companies (36.7%), assistant managers/chief clerks in twenty-four companies (30.4%), and chiefs in twenty-five companies (31.6%). The frequencies of training for dietitians were 6.2 times/year for the food safety training, 5.8 times/year for the cooking training, 4.8 times/year for nutrition-related training, and 4.7 times/year for service training.

The Medical Staffs` Perception about Nutrition Care

This study was undertaken to identify medical staffs perception about nutrition care and dietitian's role in hospitals. Questionnaires were sent to 874 medical staffa at 50 general hospials size over 100 beds, located in Seoul and Pusan, A total of 649(74.3%) of medical staffs returned questionnaries from 47 general hospitals. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. 1. 89.6% if educak stffs responded that they required the help of the dietitian when the patients needed the nutrition acre and also most of them(87.0%) held positive perceptions abuot the necessity of the nutrition support team. 2. When the medical staffs prescribed the special diet of the patients' nutrition care, 90.0% of them preferred that diet would be order after consulting with dietitian. 3. Half of the medical staffs(52.1%) responded that they were scarced of the knowledge about the clinical mutrition and then 66.4% of them recognized the need of nutrition education at the medical school. 4. The medical staffs responded that dietitian must have the knowledge abuot food, nutrition and medical science(52.5%) and the competence of discussion with medical staffs about nutrition the patients(30.8%).