St. Luke’s Hospital has been hit with a number of complaints about its food service from patients, employees, and cafeteria customers. These complaints, coupled with a very tight local labor market, have prompted the organization to contact Nationwide Institutional Food Service (NIFS) about the possibility of an outsourcing arrangement.

The hospital's business office has provided the following information for food service for the year just ended: food costs, $890,000; labor, $85,000; variable overhead, $35,000; allocated fixed overhead, $60,000; and cafeteria net income, $80,000.

Conversations with NIFS personnel revealed the following information:

• NIFS will charge St. Luke’s Hospital $14 per day for each patient served. Note: This figure has been "marked up" by NIFS to reflect the firm's cost of operating the hospital cafeteria.
• St. Luke’s 250-bed facility operates throughout the year and typically has an average occupancy rate of 70%.
• Labor is the primary driver for variable overhead. If an outsourcing agreement is reached, hospital labor costs will drop by 90%. NIFS plans to use St. Luke’s facilities for meal preparation.
• Cafeteria net income is expected to increase by 15% because NIFS will offer an improved menu selection.

Required:

1. What is meant by the term "outsourcing"? What are the potential strategic issues related to this decision?
2. Is there any concern over the reliability of the data presented in the cases?
3. Should St. Luke’s outsource its food-service operation to NIFS?
4. What factors, other than dollars, should St. Luke’s consider before making the final decision?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 What is Meant by the Term Outsourcing What are the Potential Strategic Issues Related to this Decision Outsourcing refers to the practice of contracting out certain business functions or processes t... View the full answer