Comparison of Customer Satisfaction by Type of Foodservices in a Contract Foodservice Company

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to gauge customers' satisfaction with the hospital, university, factory, and office foodservices from a contracted provider. Importance-performance analysis (IPA) evaluations were conducted. Questionnaires were returned from 1,808 customers in 46 foodservice locations. The average total scores of the importance and performance of seventeen quality characteristics were 4.14 and 3.23, respectively, on 5-point scales. The average total score of gap (gap = performance - importance) was -0.92. Analysis of significant difference according to the type of foodservices revealed that, hospital foodservices had more items with significant high scores than those of other groups in the average total scores concerning importance (p<0.01) and performance (p<0.01). The average total scores of gap showed no significant difference. Significant differences were evident in the food and personal service dimensions, and the scores of hospital foodservices trended significantly higher than those of other groups. Importance-performance analysis (IPA) analyses for hospital foodservice implicate 'variety of menu', 'cleanness of dishes', and 'taste of food' as items requiring prompt attention and improvement.