ABSTRACT
Data envelopment analysis (DEA), a linear-programming-based benchmarking technique that explicitly considers weighted outputs and inputs, is introduced as an alternative. The first, labor-cost percentages, is useful to monitor since labor is typically the largest expense category. Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes first proposed DEA methodology as an evaluation tool for decision units. Controllable factors include those within management's purview, such as labor hours, number of servers during a given shift, or wage paid to employees. The relationship between customer satisfaction and productivity in the restaurant industry is less ambiguous. Despite the foundation provided by Lusch and Serpkenci, separating sales by daypart did not appear important; using total sales by day offered the same level of sensitivity. The empirical illustration of assessing multiunit restaurant productivity provides evidence of DEA's utility for foodservice management.
