Top U.S. hospitals by cafeteria costs

Hospital cafeteria costs are a supply expense and include spending on hospital food service vendors and the cost of preparing food for employees, physicians and hospital visitors.

How much do hospitals spend on cafeteria costs each year?

The Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product tracks cafeteria costs for 566 hospitals. Analyzing this data shows that hospitals in the U.S. spent $1.6 million on average in cafeteria costs for 2020.

This table lists hospitals by the highest cafeteria costs. This metric is updated annually from Medicare Cost Report data.

Top 20 U.S. hospitals with the highest cafeteria costs

Rank Definitive ID Hospital Name Location Number of staffed beds Cafeteria costs
1 2191 Mayo Clinic Hospital – Saint Mary’s Campus Rochester, MN 1111 $37,761,110
2 4017 University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston, TX 739 $17,830,505
3 873 AdventHealth Orlando Orlando, FL 2247 $15,376,533
4 3042 WakeMed Raleigh Campus Raleigh, NC 586 $14,997,641
5 588 Stanford Hospital Stanford, CA 554 $14,985,818
6 4021 CHI St Luke’s Health – Baylor St Luke’s Medical Center Houston, TX 628 $11,880,481
7 5576 Cincinnati Children Burnet Campus Cincinnati, OH 623 $10,718,399
8 3124 University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center Cleveland, OH 638 $10,186,629
9 1979 Boston Children’s Hospital Boston, MA 415 $9,565,130
10 4366 Seattle Children’s Hospital Seattle, WA 357 $9,070,256
11 2693 UC San Diego Medical Center San Diego, CA 381 $9,027,871
12 2650 Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 413 $8,784,222
13 71 UAB Hospital Birmingham, AL 1129 $8,614,740
14 3439 UPMC Presbyterian Pittsburg, PA 1146 $8,608,971
15 3549 Jefferson Abington Hospital Abington, PA 588 $8,559,818
16 3572 Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Philadelphia, PA 854 $8,173,199
17 3519 Lancaster General Hospital Lancaster, PA 620 $8,140,598
18 2843 Tisch Hospital New York, NY 725 $7,946,457
19 2678 University of Utah Hospital Salt Lake, UT 472 $7,845,916
20 519 Loma Linda University Hospital Loma Linda, CA 315 $7,762,100

Fig. 1 Data is from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product and sourced from the Medicare Cost Report. Data accurate as of June 2022.

Which hospital in the U.S. has the highest cafeteria costs?

Mayo Clinic Hospital – Saint Mary’s Campus has the highest cafeteria costs among hospitals in the U.S. at nearly $38 million. Four additional hospitals on the list spent more than $14 million on cafeteria costs in 2020: University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center ($17.8 million), AdventHealth Orlando ($15.3 million), WakeMed Raleigh Campus ($14.9 million) and Stanford Hospital ($14.9 million).

While Mayo Clinic Hospital and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center are not the largest hospitals on the list by bed size – that would be AdventHealth Orlando – their higher cafeteria costs may be associated with their patients’ longer lengths of stay and case complexity. The patients and their visitors may be on the hospital campus for more days or longer days and then more frequently utilizing the hospital food services.

The average cafeteria costs for the top 20 hospitals on the list is $11.7 million. Four of the hospitals are in California and four are in Pennsylvania. Sixteen are academic medical centers and four are also children’s hospitals.

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