Purpose – The major aim of this paper is to model, estimate and compare the technical efficiency and
technology gap ratios of health care foodservice operations that operate in different Australian
regions.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a metafrontier model to analyse the difference
in health care food efficiency across the various Australian regions. The interesting feature of this
model is that it allows for the estimation of firms’ efficiency in of various groups that might differ in
technology and other production environments. In testing the model, cross-sectional input/output data
were used reflecting on the operational characteristics of health care foodservice operations.
Findings – The estimation process was initially supported by a hypothesis test which confirmed the
validity of the metafrontier model in comparing the efficiency of the different outlined groups. Results
showed that operations in the states of NSW and Victoria are producing on average 85.6 per cent of
their potential output with respect to the metafrontier technology. The ratio is lower in other states
with an average of 73.4 per cent. The average technical efficiency for operations in NSW and Victoria
is also higher both in terms of local (87.8 per cent) and metafrontier technologies (66.6 per cent).
Originality/value – The paper is the first to introduce the metafrontier model to the health care
foodservice area, especially for Australian regions.