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Research from the University of Central Florida Rosen College
Edited by Dr Fevzi Okumus
Introduction
In the USA, the foodservice industry represents over 4 percent of the gross domestic product with $500 billion in total revenues ([27] National Restaurant Association, 2007). This segment of the hospitality industry has shown no signs of slowing down as people continue to eat out in increasing numbers. Approximately, one in every three restaurants in the USA is a multi-unit restaurant, and as of 2005, chain restaurants grew at a faster pace than the foodservice industry as a whole. Chain restaurants grew at a rate of 5.1 percent compared to 4 percent in the overall foodservice industry. Even though multi-unit restaurants only represent one-third of the total US restaurants, their economic impact is of great magnitude accounting for more than 50 percent of the total annual domestic restaurant sales ([27] National Restaurant Association, 2007; [24] Muller and Woods, 1994). This apparent growth is also seen in the casual dining sector, which is expected to grow between 5 and 7 percent over the next decade ([3] Darden Restaurants, 2006).
In general, multi-unit restaurant organizations can be defined as those that compete in the industry with more than one unit of a like concept or theme ([29] Olsen et al. , 1992). This competition in the restaurant industry makes multi-unit operators constantly focus on cost reduction and standardization to increase return on investment in the brands ([15] Jones and Pizam, 1993; [36] Teare and Olsen, 1992). The multi-unit manager (MUM) is seen as the "manager of managers" in a chain restaurant operation, the manager that functions as a conduit between operations and the corporate level manager ([5] Drucker, 1955, p. 24). These managers are usually responsible for 2-15 units and it has been estimated that in the USA alone there are over 38,000 of them ([9] Goss-Turner, 1999; [22] Muller and DiPietro, 2006; [37] Umbreit, 1989). When managers increase the number of units that they supervise, their responsibilities have to shift from operations to more strategic issues in the restaurant organization.
In the past ten years, the substantial growth in multi-unit restaurant managers, for the most part due to the increased use of processes and standardizations, have led to a more systematic...