Efficiency of Purchase Management as Determined by the Adoption of School Meal Service Support Center in Gyeonggi Area

ABSTRACT

This study was undertaken to provide basic data for revitalizing the school meal support centers and improvingschool meals, by analyzing the purchase conditions and satisfaction of food according to an adoptionof a school meal service support center. Comparing the purchasing efficiency, convenience to purchase, andhigher overall satisfaction was achieved when a school meal service support center was adopted by the localgovernment, as compared to non-adopted school meal service support centers. Therefore, it is considered thatthe adaption of a school meal service support center is urgently required by non-adoption local governments.Moreover, the stability of food material supplies was also higher in the adopted rather than the non-adoptedcenters. Satisfaction with the quality of food ingredients was also found to be significantly higher in theadopted centers. These results indicate that if the local government adopts and introduces the school mealsupport center, inconsistencies observed in the return and exchange processes experienced by the non-adoptedcenters can be resolved, and food quality satisfaction can be improved. We, therefore, propose the necessityto implement a system for determining reasonable pricing by establishing systematic cooperation amongschools, manufacturing entities (suppliers), and the School Meal Service Support Center.