Category: Blog

School districts participating in the National School Lunch Program ( serve healthy meals to a staggering 31 million children daily.  But many schools lack adequate infrastructure and up-to-date foodservice equipment.  With ever changing regulations that alter school foodservice programs, along with growing student populations, managing a program with outdated equipment adds another level of challenges.

Schools have a growing list of daily issues to contend with besides outdated equipment; labor shortages, space restrictions, limited storage for the increase in fresh fruits and vegetables, plus a decrease in allotted time for lunch to name a few.  Often these concerns take center stage.  Combine this with tight or non-existent budgets, what is a foodservice operator to do?

Here are 5 options to consider:

1.) “One-by-One” Replacements – Instead of doing a full renovation, one option is to replace outdated counters or sections of counters one-by-one with flexible counters. This approach enables you to begin the renovation process with one-off replacements which may be more attainable and cost-effective for you to serve a growing student population. It also spreads out the transition over several years with smaller and more frequent equipment purchases.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a practical solution. My school has an outdated serving line that’s “one” continuous piece. What can I do?

2.) Think Vertical – When you have space limitations as well as increased student populations and limited lunch time to serve students in 10-15 minutes, go vertical. If you’re operating a 30+ year old cafeteria, you may not be able to retrofit your serving line. So if budget allows, consider purchasing a heated and/or refrigerated visual merchandising display case for pre-made grab-and-go menu options. This will allow you to serve more fast-access items in one location, reorganize overcrowded counter space and alleviate serving line congestion by having students quickly make meal selections. Artfully displaying menu selections also raises visibility which could potentially serve more students.

This solution doesn’t work for me due to a lack of counter space and a lack of electrical supply required to plug in a display case. Is there another option?

3.) Pop-up Portable Retail Counters – These types of mobile counters can provide an additional revenue-generating stream in underutilized spaces. As “extended or additional lunch lines,” they offer the advantage of being moved anywhere within a cafeteria or even to open areas outside of a cafeteria such as lobbies or hallways. This can also expand your service to provide self-serve grab-and-go prepacked reimbursable meals, a la carte menus or afterschool smart snacks away from your existing serving line. Positive impacts include capturing or increasing participation and serving more students in a limited timeframe. Pop-up portable retail counters can be an affordable option when budgets don’t allow for a full renovation or one-by-one counter replacements.

I don’t have the staff required to operate this concept. I also lack the budget to purchase another piece of equipment. Is there another option to consider?

4) Merchandising – Merchandising can breathe new life into your existing space and give a facelift to an existing serving line. With limited budgets, consider new vinyl wraps for your existing counter fronts. This can provide a low-cost solution to refreshing tired and outdated counters. A quick Google search can provide you a list of several local companies that can assist you with this method. For décor, select a few collections of colorful eye-catching merchandising props to enhance aesthetic appeal and functionality. Also, adding signage to help identify menus and food stations can successfully increase participation. Incorporating the 4 visual keys to merchandising is an inexpensive yet impactful way to add a “wow factor” to your existing space.

I just don’t have any funds, but I really need to find a way to speed up the service. Is there a “no cost” option?

5) Reorganize Your Serving Line – For little to no cost, reorganizing your serving line can improve functionality and temporarily fix traffic patterns. Start by observing your serving line during peak breakfast or lunch rush. Look for bottlenecking issues, from food selection to point of service. Identify where the line slows down. Are there too many menu choices for students to choose from? If you provide five options, perhaps reducing them to three would help students make faster selections. Or, consider reorganizing the flow. If possible, try moving your cashier station away from the serving line(s) to alleviate backups and maintain flow. If you serve small condiment packets, neatly reorganize them in individual baskets or decorative tins for quick and easy access. Streamlining the process with some small tweaks can shave off a few seconds here and there which all adds up to getting students through the line faster.

We’ve worked with many districts with limited budgets to come up with solutions that were right for them. We can help you too with a site visit to view your operation in action and discuss possible ideas that you can immediately incorporate into your dining space.  Tell us what you need help with. Contact us today!

Learn more about how you can experience significant increases in student participation. Check out our slideshow that offers 10 free tips that will help you transform your cafeteria and improve student engagement in your meal programs.

Creating an inviting atmosphere in your K-12 school cafeteria can have a dramatic impact on student participation levels in the lunchroom and classroom. To see a slide show of 10 easy ways you can transform your cafeteria, click here.

Mealtimes should be positive and lunchrooms should be inviting places. Lunch should be an enjoyable part of the school day for students, whether they're in kindergarten or high school. The cafeteria should be a break from the rigors of the school day.

School nutrition programs that embrace this mentality, that transform school cafeterias into places where students can relax, socialize and become nourished, will enjoy the benefits of higher participation levels and higher performing students.

But, the question becomes how?

Create Inviting Entrances

For starters, consider how the lunchroom experience starts. Even a simple welcome sign can go a long way to establishing ownership and a sense of pride, which will inevitably increase student participation. Welcoming décor isn't that difficult to pull off, either. A quick run to the local hobby store can transform an entryway.

Provide Direction

One thing students struggle with the most is limited time. Lunch periods are getting shorter and shorter, and students don't have time to waste on trying to figure out where things are located within the cafeteria. If there's a grill area, identify it. If a line has a designated starting point, let students know. Get creative with signs and identifications too. It's an opportunity to turn a school cafeteria into a space that feels more like a restaurant or food court.

Enhance Displays

How you display foods is almost as important as what foods are displayed. Attracting and enticing students — and ultimately getting those students to buy meals — requires merchandising products in ways that showcase their freshness and abundance. Clean and tidy displays are preferred over clutter and disorder. Lighting and even tray colors like dark reds and blues can make menu items more appealing. The goal is to make foods as enticing as possible because, first, we eat with our eyes.

What are the benefits of a school cafeteria transformation?

Studies show a school cafeteria environment can have an impact on the general performance of the student body. When the eating environment is pleasant and appealing, students eat more of their lunch, do better in the classroom, and have fewer behavioral problems. This is why proper nourishment is so important.

In terms of participation, though, what's the true impact? How much does ambiance affect student meal participation? With just some simple transformations such as displays, graphics, décor, and design, a high school can experience increases of more than 20% in meal participation, resulting in totals of nearly $120,000 in annual revenue.

Learn more about how you can experience significant increases in student participation. Check out our slideshow that offers 10 free tips that will help you transform your cafeteria and improve student engagement in your meal programs.

Lakeside and Multiteria have learned so much over the years in supporting the School Nutrition Association.  Our commitment may have begun by doing the right thing in supporting the association we market to, but now understanding the bigger picture, we take great pride to be part of the Legislative Action Conference (LAC) and the efforts to advocate for improvement of the national policy that supports and shapes the future of child nutrition.

The LAC is centered on the nutritional and educational welfare of our nation's K-12 students, and their message is to educate Capitol Hill using an abundance of energy and passion from a group of participants who have dedicated their lives to our schools and our students. There’s no mistaking the energy and preparation for what amounts to, in many cases, just a brief five- to 10-minute conversation with a congressional aide, or if they're lucky, an actual Senator or Representative.

The LAC is a creative and progressive conference that starts by discussing current issues before transitioning to topics of leadership, communication and how to handle oneself on Capitol Hill. Initial sessions begin with a series of meetings that highlight critical issues within the industry.

Consider a presentation titled To Procure or Not to Procure, which focused on requirements and best practices. The procurement process is complex and challenged with budgetary and resource constraints – undoubtedly a tough job.

Or consider another breakout, This Is What Is Keeping Us Awake at Night, which really cut to the center of setting priorities. Topics included how to continually increase food quality given timing and budget constraints, how to improve training with a changing workforce, and one that stood out, how to ensure that foodservice is an educational experience.

As noted by several attendees in conversation, a school’s foodservice program is the only one that touches the entire student population.  This is something that cannot be said for each teacher or coach, yet it's an underlying passion for many foodservice directors. Several topics raised in this session were consistent with SNA’s 2019 Position Paper.

But what made the session unique was its conversational tone between a spectrum of stakeholders – across the industry – who held a shared goal to improve student nutrition and wellbeing.

The last day included the main event which was to charge The Hill! Representing Wisconsin, the Lakeside Team prioritized and discussed key issues from the 2019 Position Paper to highlight in a 10-minute presentation on behalf of our home state. Based on constituency, we divided appointment times among our team and shared lessons learned from years past such as which members traditionally support school nutrition needs, how to approach them, etc.

The number one issue we pressed was funding for School Breakfast Programs (SBP) which has been an emerging trend across K-12 schools. Past research from the Food Research and Action Center shows better nourishment leads to increased class participation and learning retention.

For 2019, the House Appropriations Committee passed a one-time $20 million appropriation for school breakfast; however, this investment deserves a more permanent solution. As noted by the industry trade publication, Foodservice Director, currently 14.6 million students participate in a school breakfast program with over 85% of those students coming from low-income families.

LAC has taught us much.  Not only have we learned the importance of driving a unified message when lobbying our state representatives to create impactful legislation, but we’ve also learned of the never-ending passion displayed each year by school foodservice professionals who go above and beyond their commitment to nourish our nation’s children. Lakeside and Multiteria thank you and commend you on all levels!