This study analysed the influence of the size of each Nutrition and Food Service Department of COSEAS/USP (University of São Paulo) on the costs of meals produced in 1997, with prices from April 1998. The number of meals produced in each department was used as proxy of the size of each production plant. The unit costs were calculated, including all the ones in 1997. The comparison of the prices for each customer category allowed the calculation of the contribution margin. The main results were: there is no relation between unit costs of food items and the production plant, but the bigger the plant is the smaller the direct unit costs are. The calculation of the contribution margin confirmed the existence of the University policy of grants to the meals offered in its community.
cost benefit analysis; nutrition; food service; institutional feeding
