Evaluation of the Professional Competence of Kitchen Staff to Avoid Food Waste Using the Modified Delphi Method

• Main Authors: Wen-Hwa Ko, Min-Yen Lu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-09-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: modified Delphi method; kitchen staff; food waste; professional competence
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/19/8078

Avoiding food waste has become an important development trend nowadays, and the concept of sustainable cooking is becoming more and more important. How to integrate the concept of surplus food into the catering industry is, in reality, a topic of concern in all walks of life. This study discusses the indicators of professional competence that kitchen staff should have in cooking, from the perspective of surplus food. In this study, literature review, interviews, and the modified Delphi method were used to evaluate the importance of the indicators. After three rounds of the Delphi method analysis by 22 experts, the indicators of the professional culinary competence of kitchen staff, with regard to surplus food, were summarized in the results. The research results showed that there are a total of 58 indicators in professional culinary competence, which are divided into the following four dimensions: 13 items were knowledge competence indicators, 13 items were attitude competence indicators, 23 items were skills competence indicators and 9 items were problem and difficulty indicators. Among them, attitude was the most important indicator, followed by knowledge and skills.