In recent years, many things have changed in the school food service sector on a local, state, and national level. Specifically, the cost of food, labor, and employee benefits are increasing faster than the ability of the program to generate revenue at the same rate. At the same time, today’s food service director, has to contend with the national trend to fight childhood obesity by eliminating certain foods and snacks from the school cafeteria menu. I am a proponent of nutrition and nutrition education in schools but the school cafeteria is not to blame for “obese children”. We must remember that, good nutrition cannot be mandated, rather it must be learned. Furthermore, that learning must begin in the home. Removing food items from the school lunch line to advance the “nutritional cause” does not keep students from eating these same foods at home or bringing them from home in their lunch box. Students (especially at the middle and high school level) know what they want to eat, they have the money to spend, and when they do not receive what they want at school, will bring it from home, order it delivered, or (where possible) leave the building to get it. As I often write, I am a proponent of good nutrition but when a program has lost $10,000.00 or $50,000.00 or $90,000.00 in one year, it is incumbent on committee members, parents, administrators, and the Food Service Director to “revisit” menu planning with respect to the high cost of “wellness”. A plan must exist for replacing revenue that is lost when “favorite foods” and snacks are eliminated from the menu, and when the cost of whole grain foods, fresh fruits and fresh vegetables are consuming too great a percentage of program revenue.
The challenge for today's food service manager and his/her team is considerable, and in order to succeed he/she, the building principals, and district administration must be prepared to adopt the same philosophy and strict cost control techniques employed by a food service management company; that is a strict business approach. Unfortunately, this often means a paradigm change, in the way in which the program is viewed, managed and operated.
A Food Service Director, must be “out” in the district “managing and directing” the program’s operation. He/she must be able to stop by each building several times each week and at various times of the day to observe meal preparation and service, to offer in-service training where needed, and to evaluate the quality of the menu, over production, and more. But, the "demands of the desk" are many, and this is not always possible.
The job of today's school Food Service Manager/director is a complex one, requiring diverse skills and training to do it correctly. In essence, he/she has a four-fold responsibility: to serve high quality meals; to provide an attractive and sanitary setting for students to dine and to be an efficient, and cost conscious manager. The school Food Service Manager/director must do all this while facilitating the training and staff development of the food service team. Succinctly put, he/she must know when change is necessary, what needs to be done, when it is to be done, and who is going to do it and then act on that knowledge. Moreover, in order to succeed he/she must have the support of district administrators, building principals, and the community. This role is unique in every school district; for other than the Superintendent and Business Official, the Food Service Manager is the only administrator charged with generating revenue, balancing operational budgets, and working within that budget. This challenge is one which custodians (and even building principals) do not typically have to contend.
We all know that anything and everything is possible if funding is not an issue. Therefore, every Administrator, Board Member, Building Principal, Committee Member, custodians, and bus drivers involved in decisions that affect the food service program must understand that each decision affects the bottom line in either a positive or negative manner. Additionally, each decision may ultimately impact on the overall district budget and local tax levy. I must state that although I believe building principals should have some input with respect to the operation of the food service program in their school, they are not charged with the need to operate a “self-supporting” program, or to generate the revenue necessary to pay their staff salaries and benefits. In addition, principals are normally not trained in the financial management issues of a food service program. Accordingly, each must fully understand the financial consequences and/or benefits of any recommendation that affects the operation of the cafeteria in “their” building
Essentially, when a district has a program that is losing money, but wants it to be self-supporting, it has several choices. Their choices include:
1. The cost of operating the program must be reduced. Accordingly, efforts would have to be directed toward significantly reducing operational costs to recommended levels, for attaining a self-supporting program. Essentially not spending any more than it brings in.
In addition many programs will have to negotiate themselves out of generous labor contracts, that the program cannot afford. In many instances, the program must also reduce food costs, while increasing revenue. Increasing revenue can include increases in student participation, increased selling prices and increased Ala Carte and vending sales. This option will normally present a significant challenge for the district, and the food service team.
2. Subsidize the program by ever increasing amounts annually. If, for example, a $50,000.00 subsidy was appropriated the previous year, the amount of subsidy will increase to greater amounts every year. Having an open checkbook to operate a school food service program is not a viable option for any district.
3. Include a budget item, to voters, to subsidize the program. If approved by the voters, the amount requested will have to increase each year, and could be denied in a subsequent vote. If denied by the voters, the program would be on austerity and, therefore, legally cannot operate in the red. This would most certainly assure closure of the cafeteria.
4. Cease secondary school participation in the School Lunch program and move to an Ala Carte food service program, which will allow for lower food costs, and increased program revenue. By choosing this option the program could sell anything that it wants, at any price, and would not be bound by federal meal pattern requirements, or minimum portion sizes.
5. Contract the program out to a Food Service Management Company.
I am not in favor of all of these options, but we must recognize that they are options, and each is available to the Board of Education, even #4.
There is “no magic” to achieving success; bringing a program that is losing money to a more cost effective status is not easy, and normally necessitates a major changes in the way that the program has operated to date. My recommendation would normally be to pursue a combination of item 1, and item 2 presented above. However, I do not believe that most districts are really able to negotiate itself out of an existing labor contract that the program cannot afford.
Regardless, of the decision made by a Board of Education, the Food Service Manager and his/her team will have to “step up” and make difficult managerial decisions to meet the challenge of moving a losing program to self-supporting status. The responsibility then becomes his/hers, but must be shared by the Board and the administration. If a manager is to succeed, the entire district, will most likely have to adopt a different philosophy, a strong business approach to the program’s operation, with a more pro-active approach to menu planning, purchasing, and use of available staff hours – essentially that “paradigm change” that I wrote about earlier.
Our jobs are becoming more and more difficult, and adding new and unfunded nutritional mandates to program regulations will, in my opinion, force more programs to drop participation in the lunch and breakfast programs, or to contract with a Food Service Management Company. Let's hope that doesn't happen.
Be well my friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment