Impacting the bottom line: Behavior mapping in a full-service hotel kitchen

Abstract

The study at hand sought to demonstrate the value of spatial layout and functionality in the foodservice industry and the impact these components have on productivity, employee satisfaction, and ultimately the bottom line. This study introduced a method for further research to be conducted in an attempt to limit the productivity hindrances of excessive walking, product rehandling, and cross traffic/confusion. This work additionally sought to explore behavior mapping as a research tool that can be used by both interior designers and food service professionals to establish a benchmark for observing and identifying key productivity hindrances in the physical environment in a full-service hotel kitchen. The researcher theorized that a paperbased survey combined with researcher-conducted behavior mapping would produce more descriptive results than the survey method alone. Paper-based surveys included a self-reported employee behavior map portion that in combination with researcher-conducted behavior mapping did in fact produce greater results than the paper-based survey alone. The results uncovered about the productivity hindrances led to potential solutions to be developed for the full-service hotel kitchen. The results of this study add to the body of knowledge for both the foodservice and interior design industries in the spatial layout and functionality component of the physical environment.