Consumer evaluation of hospital foodservice quality: an empirical investigation.

PURPOSE The purpose of this article is to estimate the relationship between acute care consumers' satisfaction with hospital foodservices, foodservice characteristics, demographic and contextual variables. DDESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The acute care hospital foodservice patient satisfaction questionnaire was administered to 2347 patients in Queensland, Australia from 1996-2001. Regression analysis was conducted to measure the influence of 21 foodservice attributes and seven contextual/demographic items on overall foodservice satisfaction. FFINDINGS: Foodservice satisfaction was strongly associated with variety, flavour, meat texture, temperature, meal taste, and menu staff (p < 0.01). Consumers aged 70 years or more rated their overall satisfaction significantly lower than younger consumers (p < 0.01), but no statistically significant differences in overall ratings existed for other contextual or demographic groups. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS This new foodservice instrument and the methods of analysis may be generalisable, but application is likely to be context-specific. Further applications of the instrument are required to produce greater confidence in its validity and reliability across different foodservice settings. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS Global statements often used in health service satisfaction surveys (e.g. a single rating of "food quality") provide insufficient information to allow managers to adapt foodservices to suit consumers' preferences. ORIGINALITY/VALUE Detailed information of the kind produced here is required for the formulation of managerial and sectoral policies to improve the quality of health and consumer nutrition care. The findings are noteworthy and, as far as the literature review showed, no previously published study has produced this level of detail on consumer preferences across foodservice attributes or their relationship to overall foodservice satisfaction.