Lean in hospitality services across State University

Abstract

Food Service industry is one of the largest employer in the United States and food service in Universities form a considerable part of this. Food service places always face the difficult task of providing high quality of food and at the same time reduce wastes and costs involved with food production. Lean principles and lean tools help in reducing wastes and thereby reducing costs. Lean principles have been widely applied in the manufacturing sector and rarely used in the service industry. This research applies lean principles in reducing wastes and improving productivity of a food service operation in a university setting. The results showed considerable reduction in costs and improvement in productivity while keeping the quality of food at the highest level.