Paper Title
Foodservice Cost Control Practices: Issues and Recommendations

Abstract
Little research has been done in understanding cost control issues, particularly in the case of foodservice outlets in Malaysia. This paper addresses cost minimization via imposing cost control measures through daily operations. Specifically, issues regarding controlling of foodservice costs are the prime concern in the paper. An exploratory study is deemed feasible to investigate cost control measures being practiced in foodservice daily operationsas limited information is available in addressing this issue. Whether the foodservice outlets ever practice control measures and also what are cost control practices being applied needs investigation. Other issues includes factors affecting selling prices and problems that these foodservice outlets encounter in terms of instituting controls measures. Thus, recommendations are being forwarded to overcome and minimise these problems. Qualitative approach via structured interviews were being conducted on 30 foodservice outlet managers around the northern part of Malaysia. The findings revealed that the majority of managers acknowledge that there are awareness on cost control measures in their daily operations, however these are based on the routine experience of running their operations. It is seen that the implementation of control procedures are still unbalanced and require improvements. Thus, there is a need to cultivate the correct application of cost control measures in foodservice outlets� operations in terms of appropriate trainings and cost control courses. Keywords- Cost Control, Foodservice Outlets, Selling Price, Control Problems, Control Recommendations