The Online Business Center

Posts Tagged ‘Financial Success’

• Improvements to the school meal program: A number of changes to the school meal program were made to enhance its appeal to students. These changes likely contributed to higher participation in the meal pro-gram which resulted in increased revenue.
• Updating the meal program menu: Most of the schools participating in these studies revamped their menus to promote the meal program. The most common changes were the addition of salad and/or fruit bars and a switch from standard cafeteria style ser-vice to a food court set up with international themes.
• Enhancing serving and eating areas: Almostall participating districts upgraded their cafe-terias by making simple improvements such as replacing long tables and benches with smaller round tables and chairs, painting the walls, adding murals and other decorations and redesigning menu boards in a manner that created an inviting ambience. Outdoor eating areas were also sometimes improved or expanded, and adequate shading provided when needed. In many cases measures were taken to decrease meal lines and increase the time available for eating. These measures included adding additional payment stations, offering “grab and go” packaged meals and serving meals from carts located throughout the campus.
• Improving kitchen facilities: In response to student demand for more “fresh” food and more “variety”, some of the participating schools remodeled their kitchen facilities to better accommodate the preparation of meals on-site and the storage of larger vol-umes of fresh produce.
• Direct involvement of students in changing the food environment Students at the participating schools were involved to varying degrees in policy development, implementa-tion, nutrition education and promotion. Schools that involved students in selecting and promoting healthy options tended to see greater sales of healthy items.
• Strong school site buy-in Many different stakeholders are affected by the SB 19 regulations. Resistance, especially from those that could be affected by reduced revenues, was not uncommon. This resistance was best overcome by open communication, collegial relationships, a willingness to compromise, and making step by step changes. Buy-in from district and school administra-tion (i.e. superintendents and principals) was essential and the role of the food service directors, supervisors and staff was central. The more successful districts obtained support from and maintained consistent communication with the key stakeholder groups.
• Marginalizing a la carte foods Schools that eliminated the foods sold competi-tively by food service tended to see greater revenue increases suggesting that reduced availability of other options was critical to increase participation in the meal program.