MANUFACTURING-PLANT FOOD SERVICES AS MARKETS FOR FISH AND SHELLFISH 



INTRODUCTION 



Almost 6,000 manufacturing plants 

 with 250 or more employees — more than half 

 of all such plants in the country — main 

 tain food facilities, such as cafeterias, 

 restaurants, or other means of serving hot 

 foods to employees. The larger plants, 

 with a thousand or more employees, gener- 

 ally have regular food services while only 

 a third of the plants with 250 to U99 

 employees have such facilities. The pur- 

 pose of this report is to examine and 

 identify the market opportunities these 

 facilities may afford the fishing industry 

 in general, and distributors of fishery 

 products in particular. 



Self-service cafeterias are operated 

 by 75 percent of the plants. Large plants 

 make greater use of cafeterias and res- 

 taurants than do smaller companies (with 

 fewer than 500 workers). The latter group 

 makes considerable use of mobile food 

 carts and canteen operations. 



Almost all plants serve a lunch. 

 Two-thirds of the plants serve a second 

 meal --frequently a breakfast or a dinner. 

 Seven percent of the food services are 

 open continuously. In a "typical" plant 

 about half of the employees eat meals 

 daily at the plant food service facilities. 



Two out of three factory restaurant 

 services are contractor-operated and there 

 is some evidence of a trend from company 

 operation to contractor operation. In 

 many instances — even when the food services 

 are nominally on a break-even or profit 

 basis — rent, utilities, and other oper- 

 ating expenses are not charged to the 

 facility itself. About 60 percent of the 

 plants with company-operated facilities 

 directly subsidized their food services 

 by making up the difference between re- 

 ceipts and expenditures. About a third of 



the plants whose facilities are leased to 

 a concessionaire either guarantee a mini- 

 mum profit, or have a cost -plus -fixed- 

 fee arrangement with the contractor. 



A report ( Employee Food Services in 

 Manufacturing Plants 1/) published in " 

 1959 by the Marketing Research Division, 

 A.gricultural Marketing Service, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, presents infor- 

 mation on the market manufacturing plants 

 provide for food products. It contains 

 data on kinds of plants that are included, 

 types of facilities offered, management 

 appraisals of food services, attitudes to- 

 ward company versus contractor management 

 of such services, financial arrangements, 

 purchasing practices, and appraisals of 

 suppliers. 



A summary of the preliminary findings 

 including comprehensive data in tabular 

 form, by major category and for numerous 

 individual food items, on expenditures for, 

 and use of food in manufacturing -plant 

 food facilities will be found in Buying 

 Practices and Food Use of Employee Food 

 Services in Manufacturing Plants If, 

 published in 1959 by the Marketing Re- 

 search Division, Agricultural Marketing 

 Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



1/ Marketing Research Report No. 325, 

 Superintendent of Documents, 

 U. S. Government Printing Office, 

 Washington 25, D.C., 50 cents a copy. 



2/ Marketing Research Report No. 326, 

 Superintendent of Documents, 

 U. S. Government Printing Office 

 Washington 25, D.C., 75 cents a copy. 



