Re-engineering of the meal logistics in a sheltered house for elderly people

Purpose – The goal of this study is to perform an economic comparison of alternative service concepts designed to improve the productivity of nursing care in a refurbishment project of selected sheltered housing facility.
Design/methodology/approach – Four different service development options were identified for the dining and kitchen facilities: the dining facilities were either decentralised or centralised, and the meals were prepared on site or brought in from outside.
Findings – The form of dining model chosen affected the operating costs more than the spatial costs. The biggest differences in operating costs were attributable to the meal price and to the costs of transferring disabled residents to the dining area. The study showed that the option which had the lowest spatial costs surprisingly had the highest total costs. This was the option in which the meals were conveyed to the decentralised dining rooms located on the different floors by the food supplier. The total costs of this option were 50 per cent higher than the total costs of the decentralised option with on-site cooking facilities. The centralised dining option with externalised food service had
considerably lower renovation costs but 15 per cent higher total costs than the lowest cost option (decentralised dining option with own kitchen).
Originality/value – The paper provides a practical model for taking into account not only remodelling costs but also operating costs in total cost calculations of the remodelling process.