RDN Food Service Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A food service manager notices that the steam table temperature has dropped to 130°F. What is the correct action?
- Discard all food held below 135°F for more than 2 hours (Correct answer)
- Add more hot water to bring temp up within 30 minutes
- Serve the food immediately since 130°F is acceptable
- Cover the food to retain heat and continue service
Correct answer: Discard all food held below 135°F for more than 2 hours
Foods held in the temperature danger zone (41–135°F) for more than 2 hours must be discarded to prevent foodborne illness.
Question 2: Which inventory method assigns the cost of the most recently purchased items to cost of goods sold first?
- FIFO (First-In, First-Out)
- LIFO (Last-In, First-Out) (Correct answer)
- Weighted average cost
- Specific identification
Correct answer: LIFO (Last-In, First-Out)
LIFO assumes the most recently purchased (last-in) items are sold first, which is often used for cost accounting during inflation.
Question 3: A hospital cafeteria wants to reduce plate waste. Which strategy is most directly effective?
- Implementing a selective menu with patient preferences (Correct answer)
- Increasing portion sizes to improve satisfaction
- Standardizing all meals to a single menu
- Limiting meal service to two times per day
Correct answer: Implementing a selective menu with patient preferences
Selective menus allow patients to choose preferred foods, which significantly reduces plate waste and improves intake.
Question 4: In a cook-chill system, cooked food must be chilled from 135°F to 41°F within how many hours?
- 2 hours
- 4 hours
- 6 hours (Correct answer)
- 8 hours
Correct answer: 6 hours
The FDA Food Code requires that cooked food in a cook-chill system be cooled from 135°F to 41°F within 6 hours (135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, then to 41°F within 4 more hours).
Question 5: When calculating a menu item's food cost percentage, which formula is correct?
- Selling price ÷ food cost × 100
- Food cost ÷ selling price × 100 (Correct answer)
- Food cost × selling price × 100
- Selling price − food cost × 100
Correct answer: Food cost ÷ selling price × 100
Food cost percentage = (food cost ÷ selling price) × 100, indicating what proportion of the menu price is spent on ingredients.
Question 6: Which type of foodservice system produces meals in a central kitchen and delivers them to satellite locations for service?
- Conventional system
- Ready-prepared system
- Commissary system (Correct answer)
- Assembly-serve system
Correct answer: Commissary system
A commissary (central kitchen) system prepares food centrally and distributes it to multiple satellite or receiving kitchens for final service.
Question 7: A foodservice operation's budget shows fixed costs of $8,000/month and variable costs of $4 per meal. If 3,000 meals are served, what is the total monthly cost?
- $12,000
- $20,000 (Correct answer)
- $24,000
- $32,000
Correct answer: $20,000
Total cost = fixed costs + (variable cost per meal × number of meals) = $8,000 + ($4 × 3,000) = $8,000 + $12,000 = $20,000.
RDN Food Service Management 2
A food service manager notices that the steam table temperature has dropped to 130°F.
What is the correct action?