Food-Service-Manual-for-Health-Care-Institutions

Food Service Manual for Health Care Institutions
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• Make use of the ever-evolving Internet technology. Web sites are an excellent way to communicate
with the public concerning products and service. Web sites can be used to promote new
products, menus, nutrition information, food safety tips, recipes, culinary tips, and special offerings.
Include contact information such as address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail
addresses. Web sites must be kept up-to-date, and all information must be current and accurate.
• Use brochures and fliers to advertise and promote a special food service project for such
things as daily specials, hours of operation, catering, nutritional counseling, and food safety
information. This is an excellent way to let customers know about the happenings. All
brochures must contain accurate information, be easy to read and attractive, and include
descriptions of how the product(s) and service(s) will help customers.
• Catering is a good method to use to market the food service to both in-facility customers
and the community. Catering places the food service in a different light and provides an opportunity
to enhance the image of food service and to generate revenue.
• Use payroll stuffers to promote upcoming events, changes, and so forth that are “stuffed”
into employees’ paycheck envelopes.
Price
A price must be established that reconciles the value of the product to customers with the value
of the exchange to the food service operation. Before purchase, price is one of the few indicators
of quality. Unfortunately, it also may be one of the least reliable quality indicators because
a variety of variables, some related to quality and some not, are used to establish prices.
Accurate cost information is critical to effective pricing. When establishing product prices, food
service managers must consider not only their costs but other factors, key among which are the
demand of consumers for products and the prices charged by competitors for comparable products.
Because the cost, demand, and competition variables differ from one geographical region
to another, price variations for similar products are often noted.
Public Image
Public image, or how service sector businesses are viewed by current and potential customers,
affects the salability of services. A food service facility’s reputation among customers and
potential customers, peers, community, and the public at large can be enhanced. Participating
in nutrition-related interviews in print or broadcast media is one approach. Another might be
participating in annual tasting events sponsored by a local restaurant association. Both could
influence the public’s perception of food quality at the facility. Responding to community needs
by donating prepared foods to congregate feeding programs, such as soup kitchens, could be
viewed positively.
The preceding discussion on the five elements of a marketing mix gives only a broad look
as related to the health care food service industry. For these concepts to be of value to a specific
food service operation, they must be tailored to the facility and implemented systematically
(see Chapter 15). This might be accomplished by means of a customized self-evaluation
checklist. The initial evaluation of the salability of an operation’s products could serve as the
foundation of a comprehensive, structured marketing plan.
Marketing Management Model
Successful marketing of health care food service products is a challenging task, unachievable
without managerial involvement and a systematic approach. The marketing management
process is a sequence of steps designed to ensure that the right decisions are made to sell an
organization’s goods and services effectively. In many health care organizations, the coordination
of this process is centralized in a functional unit of at least department standing. Regardless
of whether this is the case, food service managers, along with other operational managers,