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The concept of convenience food service systems has evolved as a result of technological progression in food preparation, processing, packaging and equipment to curtail input resources of space, equipment and labor. The purpose of this research was to (1) compare the allocation of space in six selected hospital food systems designed for convenience or for conventional operations with estimated needs suggested by Kotschevar and Terrell (1961a) and (2) identify types, determine units and utilization time of production and reconstitution equipment in the two systems. Space allocations were calculated for each of the subunits within the food system. The square feet of total space utilized per patient bed between the two systems indicated that the amount of space was not materially reduced in the three convenience systems when compared with two of the conventional systems. One hospital using conventional production utilized space in excess of all other hospitals studied. Square feet of floor space in this food system was greater for both the kitchen and the dining room area than any of the other food systems in the sample. Findings from the data collected in this sample showed that the equipment utilization time was less in the convenience systems than in hospitals designed for conventional production. There was also a radical shift in the type of equipment utilized in the two systems. The microwave oven represented the largest number of units and the next highest utilization time in the convenience systems. For the conventional production system, the ovens showed the second highest utilization time. In some food systems certain pieces of equipment were not utilized during the week of the study. From the findings of this research it was recommended that continuing systems evaluation be conducted to provide additional data on the two input resources of space and equipment. Further study is needed on the utilization of space and equipment when a system for conventional pro

The specific objectives of this research were to (1) develop a method for determining labor time and labor cost of cooks by work functions in the production of selected vegetarian entrees, and (2) determine the percentage relationship of cooks' labor to food cost in selected classifications of entrees. Application of the continuous time study methodology as developed in this research was restricted to the observation of entree cooks in a 408 bed non-profit university hospital. Observation of work function activities during the first week of a four week cycle menu for three consecutive cycles was classified under three major categories: namely, direct, indirect, and delay time plus total time. Observed labor time by work function activity for each selected recipe was computed as a basis for analysis. The printout listed (1) the work function, (2) frequency of observation for each function, (3) the time in seconds and percentage distribution of labor time expended per work function for each individual cook, (4) total frequency, labor time and percentage, and (5) dollar labor cost of each cook for each entree. The ingredient cost of each selected entree was calculated individually from the inventory cost printout previously developed for the food service system. Percentage relationship by a ratio factor was calculated for four classifications of entrees to determine a ratio of cook labor cost to food cost. Findings for these eleven entrees showed that ingredient cost per serving for all selected entrees was higher than cook labor cost per serving. Cook labor costs represent only a portion of total labor cost. Findings indicated a wide range in percentage of time expended by cooks in work function activities in each classification of entrees. An analysis of each work function category also showed a wide variation. It was noted that a large percentage of cook labor time was spent in preliminary processing. Transportation of food and walking empty accounted for more of th