Mathematical analysis of production cost related to quality and manufacturing expenses in catering system

This thesis aims to determine the relative weights of the decision criteria and priorities of alternatives which effective on the total cost of the catering system. Here Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP, a Multi Criteria Decision Making method) is applied for getting the relative rankings of the catering cost alternatives between the years of 2012 and 2014. Months (12 months) were selected as criteria and 2012, 2013, 2014 years were selected as sub criterion. There were 6 identified alternatives; cleaning, food, staff, consumption, energy and others. Selected alternatives are widely used for different purposes of catering system and they can be used for common analysis as sub cost groups. Both conceptual and operational difficulties make the calculations complex and invariably cumbersome. The proposed approach enables the transfer of data, information, and knowledge between the different years related to catering processes. It also combines the characteristics of both the practical experiences of caterers with the output of a mathematical analysis model, to obtain more accurate knowledge that can be used for weight ranking, and accordingly process optimization. Moreover, studies that compare different cost factors in catering have not been found in the literature. This approach also helps caterers as well as catering planners for understanding priorities and weights of these alternative catering choices to calculate budget and compare actual cost in each year. Key words: Catering industry; Production cost; AHP; Alternative; Criteria; Priority rating.