Plate Wastage and the Service Quality of the Cafeteria in a Private High School

Abstract

Millions of people in the world are suffering from scarcity of food, yet tons of food are wasted
every day. This study was conducted to determine the food wastage of high school students
and the service quality of a cafeteria located in Silang, Cavite. Convenience sampling was
utilized to select high school students enrolled in the school where the cafeteria is situated to
participate in the study. A descriptive-evaluative research design was used and data gathered
were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, mean, and standard deviation.
Quarter waste method was used to measure plate wastage while adopted questionnaire was
used to determine the service quality of the cafeteria. Findings revealed that the highest
percentage of food wastage was gluten followed by ground vegescallop, vegemeat, tofu, and
beans. In terms of service quality, the lowest percentage was the dining area (Mean= 2.95 and
SD= 0.80), followed by Food Quality (Mean=3.44 and SD= 0.80), Food Variety (Mean= 3.76
and SD= 0.61), Personnel employees’ service (Mean= 3.80 and SD= 0.79), and Serving time
(Mean= 3.85 and SD= 0.80). Among the five protein foods that incurred a leftover, gluten has
the highest percentage of waste while among the five factors contributing to the service quality
of a cafeteria, dining area has the lowest percentage. Based on the results, the use of gluten as
part of the meal and the dining area as a place to eat should be improved to lessen the food
wastage and enhance the service quality, respectively.