A Recipe for Success

USDA Poster for Healthy School Meals

In preparation for an upcoming trip to Washington DC, I've been thinking about reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, and the wild ride that ensued after we embarked with the changes set forth by the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010.

I'm often asked about why following these guidelines has been successful in our district, while other districts have struggled. I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I do have some thoughts regarding our "formula" for success. I have boiled down my thoughts into what I call the 5 C's:

1. Culture: It is really necessary to pay attention to the culture of the area, the culture of your schools, current market trends & market demographics.   What I mean by this is... know your market.  For some districts in the south, finding whole grain grits was a major issue.  Our northern students wouldn't know what to do if we served them grits, not being familiar with that particular food item.  We faced other challenges, including procurement: finding acceptable whole grain tortillas for wraps, consistent availability of all whole grain items from our distributers, etc.    But, paying attention to the culture means knowing what the kids in your geographical area like to eat & are used to eating, and finding ways to offer similar fare within your own eating establishment and within the USDA guidelines  By giving your customers what they want AND following the guidelines, you will achieve success.  

2. Collaborate: Collaboration is key to the success - Collaboration with administration, parents, staff and students. Building bridges with families, and gaining support from district administrators fosters a culture that welcomes the positive results that change brings.

Having the necessary support from your district's administrators is essential, but even more important is building bridges and getting "buy in" from the customers - students and parents.  Our district's after school "cooking club" is a wonderful way to foster the relationship between the school nutrition program and families.  Families get to meet school nutrition personnel, taste actual recipes that are being made and served in the cafeteria.  Taste testing and/or cooking in the classroom with students is also a great way to introduce students to new foods, new recipes and menu items.  Allowing the students the opportunity to name the recipe takes this collaboration one step further.

happy students at "cooking club" sampling
healthy banana chocolate chip cookies

3. Creativity: Creativity helps to keep the changes fresh and new, allowing our customers to stay interested & engaged. Adding creative touches to menus, cafeteria environment and by featuring theme menus, market trends and other innovations creates excitement and generates increased meal participation.

In our district, monthly "Fun Friday Breakfasts" have had a positive impact on breakfast participation at our elementary schools.  We have seen a sustained 30% growth in our breakfast average daily participation by hosting a once a month themed breakfast.  Popular themes include sports themes (think: Super Bowl) and "Frozen" theme, featuring "Olaf" string cheese and hot cocoa muffins.  We have even had an "Angry Bird" Fun Friday Breakfast and a "Fruit Ninja" themed breakfast.  Keep it fun - they will keep coming :-)

Wear your "Angry Bird" gear to the
"Angry Bird" Fun Friday Breakfast!

Need ideas to boost your school nutrition program's creativity level?  One good place to start is by following School Meals that Rock on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & of course on Pinterest.  There, you will find inspiration from school breakfast and lunch programs from all around the country. Here are a couple of great links to follow:

https://www.facebook.com/SchoolMealsThatRock/
https://www.pinterest.com/schoolmealsrock/


4. Communication: We have found that communicating has been essential throughout the change process. Communication = Marketing, and through marketing we have kept our customers & their families informed. Marketing can be done on menus, emails, newsletters, websites, and via social media sites. Families want to know how hard we are striving to provide healthy, nutritious meals.

Social media has become a powerful tool for us.   Offering  photographic documentation of our menu items and events lends credibility.  Growing fresh produce in your school garden?  Post a photo on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and/or Snapchat.  Are students excited about school meals? Post a photo (make sure you have the proper release, of course) of happy students enjoying their school meals. Families want to know & trust that their kids are being fed delicious, healthy meals.

5. Constantly Changing: We are constantly changing and always adapting - as we tweak recipes, adjust menus, re-organizing work strategies and procure new product. It is a lot of work, but extremely rewarding - when you receive a simple ‪#‎Valentine‬ from a student or a note from a parent thanking you for introducing a child to many new foods... it makes all of the work absolutely worth it.

Do you like my hat?

an illustration  from "Go Dog Go"

My 2 year old granddaughter is obsessed with the children's book, "Go Dog Go".   Throughout the book, two dogs regularly meet up and ask each other "Do you like my hat?".  In the book, the answer to that question is consistently "No", until the very end of the book when one of the dogs is wearing an elaborate party hat with many objects being balanced from the hat.  Finally, the answer is in the affirmative.  "Yes, I do like your hat!   

Reading this book, over and over and over, as one tends to do with 2 year olds got me thinking about hats...

Being a School Nutrition Director is a little like the dog at the end of the book.  She is balancing so many items on her fancy party hat, that it is a wonder that she doesn't fall off of the precarious ladder that she is climbing on.   I often feel that way... balancing all that I do is a little like climbing up a wobbly ladder, trying to keep everything in balance at the same time.  

Private Eye at your Service

Recently, I returned from being out of the district at a state conference for 2 days. As soon as I got back, my staff had me digging and researching some recent Point of Sale transactions to see if I could find out where an error had occurred.  So, I donned my "Sherlock Holmes" hat, and scrutinized the "books" for the morning as I tried to decipher where the errors were.    

At the time, we joked a little about how many different hats a school nutrition director must wear.   Private eye was the top of the list.  But as I worked at solving the financial mysteries that had occurred in my absence , accountant also topped the list.  The accountant hat is never far away, as we always seem to be crunching numbers... not only participation numbers, but also the numbers of our financial picture. Are students paying?  How much is our federal reimbursement this year? If we order milk from this company vs. that milk company, 

can we save a cent or two per carton? One cent really adds up when you are purchasing hundreds of thousands cartons of milk each year.  What price should we charge for student meals this year, and how does the Paid Lunch Equity tool fit in?  Indeed, our accountant hat (and our pencils) are never set aside for very long.  It seems to be the most important balancing act of all....  making sure that we are managing our expenses, all the while ensuring that we are attracting new customers and encouraging our paying customers to pay their balances due.   Keeping all the finances balanced can be exhausting and overwhelming.

Speaking of overwhelming...  working in school nutrition can sometimes be as overwhelming as it is rewarding.  Managing  inventory, staff, meal counts, the changing guidelines & regulations is enough at times to drive you ( and your employees) crazy!  Which is why at times, a school nutrition director needs to don a "therapist's hat".  

School nutrition employees are nurturers.  We love to make sure that the needs of children are being met, and feeding them healthy food is how we strive to do that.  But being a nurturer can sometimes lead to exhaustion.   Add to the equation the stresses from home... and a school nutrition director often finds that they are  offering support to staff as they sort out problems and issues that extend well beyond the school cafeteria. 

And we can't forget some of the most obvious hats that we wear.  The chef hat is one that we must frequently wear, in order to make sure that our meals look and taste good.

Our district is very fortunate to have a full time chef on staff, and she travels throughout the district, from kitchen to kitchen, not only tasting and testing our recipes, but training our staff to do the same: making sure that our menus look and taste appealing every single day.

Of course, balancing the nutrition guidelines is extremely essential, and so a dietitian's "hat" (hairnet?) is a necessity! With the crazy pace that the federal school nutrition guidelines have been changing, it seems that we are always manipulating the sudoku puzzle of red/orange vegetables, leafy greens, legumes, whole grains & grain equivalents, meat/meat alternate, calories, fat, protein, calcium... on and on it goes.  

Marketing is another absolutely important "hat".  Marketing can prove very challenging for school nutrition directors, especially when they are already juggling so many other hats!  But without 

marketing, our message and our product may get lost in the busy-ness of everyday life.  Getting our message heard, sharing the news about all that is wonderful, delicious and exciting about school meals is key to maintaining and growing participation in our program.  Marketing school meals can take on many forms, from the "old school" printed menus that are sent home, to blast emails home and websites. Others are using messages on digital screens and marketing via social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other sites in the constantly changing world of social media and the world wide web. Blogging and vlogging (video blogging) are also creative marketing ideas to consider.   

Wearing so many different hats can be exhausting, but it is also extremely rewarding and exciting.  It is certainly never boring!  And so, I will end this where I started it... back to "Go Dog, Go".  Do I like my hat?  I do!  What a hat! I do like my hat!!!

an illustration from "Go Dog, Go"

I stand for#RealSchoolFood

I stand for & believe wholeheartedly in #RealSchoolFood.  I mean, of course I do…. who wouldn’t?  Would you stand for #FakeSchoolFood? 

School Meal in RSU #14 with Local Grass Fed Beef, Local apple,
fresh lettuce & tomato

The thing is… we’ve been working towards and serving #RealSchoolFood for years now. Many of my colleagues in School Nutrition have been doing the same thing… serving up locally sourced food, Farm to School and #RealSchoolFood.   We’ve been working at this step by step, recipe by recipe.  It is exciting and rewarding… and a lot of work.  It takes a lot of work, a dedicated staff, a district with vision, and … a lot of money.

Our path to #RealSchoolFood didn’t start with a bunch of celebrities supporting a social media campaign, nudging us toward more wholesome food in our child nutrition program.  Our path to #RealSchoolFood began with a vision and a grant.  The vision of our district was to increase local foods & to begin preparing more of our menu items from scratch.  We were fortunate enough to receive grant funds to support our vision.  Grant funds to pay for food service equipment, grant funds to support staff development & culinary training.  Even so… the transition to #RealSchoolFood does not happen quickly or easily.  It is a process that doesn’t happen overnight, but menu item by menu item.  It involves educating our customers, taste testing and nutrition education. 

Believe it or not, our customers frequently come to us without a lot of experience with #RealFood.   We recently had a baked potato bar on the menu, and many of our young students did not even know what a baked potato was.  And we live in Maine, where potatoes are our #1 crop.    And so, in spite of all our efforts to serve and market #RealSchoolFood, our most popular lunch menus are often our most processed items.  Because of this, we educate our customers.  We taste test, we let them name our recipes, we talk to them about the health benefits of eating less processed food.   It's baby steps, one recipe or menu item at a time.  And we hope it’s working. 

Students at Jordan Small Middle School LOVED our panko crusted
zucchini "fries".

#RealSchoolFood also costs more money.  At least, this has been our experience.  And with our current federal reimbursement rate of approximately $3.00 per school lunch, we are barely breaking even.  This $3 per lunch is intended to cover all food, supply, labor (including benefits) and miscellaneous costs that it takes to make a lunch.  Cooking #RealSchoolFood takes more equipment, more staff, and more staff training to serve up food that doesn’t go from freezer to oven.  It takes time, culinary expertise, marketing & educating the students and their families.   Our district is fortunate, and because of our vision, we have been able to have a full time chef on staff.  Chef Sam not only works with our staff, developing their culinary skills and working on recipes, she also goes into the classroom and works with the students, taste testing & developing new menu items. 

Chef Sam taste tests curried carrot soup
with a group of students.

I guess all this is to really say – if you support #RealSchoolFood, support greater funding for the National School Lunch Program.  And visit your local school to see what they are serving.  Do they have the capacity to serve #RealSchoolFood?  The equipment? The storage space?  The expertise?  The money? Make sure you understand, not only the USDA guidelines, but also the financial component of the National School Lunch Program, and see what real #SchoolLunch #Superheroes are doing every day… probably in a district near you!

School Breakfast Changes Lives

After a bit of a hiatus that included a broken ankle on the part of my husband, a broken femur on the part of my 91 year old mother, and a new grandchild, I am back.  And I've been thinking about school breakfast.  School Breakfast changes lives.  Studies show that students who eat school breakfast miss less school days throughout the school year, score 17% higher on math tests and are 20% more likely to graduate from high school.  And the benefits extend long into adulthood: high school graduates on average earn  $10,000 more than people who do not graduate from high school, and they are less likely to experience food insecurity.  Clearly, breakfast lives up to its reputation as the most important meal of the day.   And yet, while over 21 million students across the United States qualify for free and reduced price meals... less than half of these students are eating breakfast at school.  The data is the same in my own district, and we spend a lot of time wondering why families are not taking advantage of this benefit, and working on strategies to make breakfast more accessible.  

Several of our schools were recently awarded $1000.00 grants from Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry Campaign.  The purpose of the grants were to test a variety of innovative breakfast marketing strategies to help determine which are most effective in increasing breakfast participation.  We were excited to receive this boost to our existing breakfast program and were anxious to see if some of Share Our Strength's strategy ideas would help us to further increase our participation.  As participants in the grant program, we were encouraged to offer breakfast free to all students in our elementary schools on a designated day, to study the impact that a universally free breakfast would have on participation levels.  

At this "free 4 all" breakfast event, we chose to have a simple "Super Bowl" Top Your Own Cereal Bar, inspired by a Kellogg's  Cereal & Milk pop up event that I happened upon in Times Square last summer.   

Kellogg's Cereal & Milk Pop Up Store in Times Square..
complete with The Roots in concert.

Student were able to top their cereal bowls with a variety of toppings, including fresh strawberries, blueberries and dried banana chips.  Whole grain muffins, milk & juice selections rounded out the menu.  We planned our event, gained support from building administrators and teachers, and marketed this free event to parents, with the simple message:   Morning Rush got you frazzled?  Leave Breakfast to us!  

The results were phenomenal!  Our breakfast far exceeded our expectations!  Not only did we double our overall  breakfast participation at our elementary schools, we even served 56% more students who qualify for free and reduced price meals....  even though they can eat breakfast for free on any school day!  Making breakfast "free 4 all" made the breakfast a fun occasion and eliminated any stigma that might be associated with eating breakfast at school. Since the "Free 4 All" breakfast, our breakfast participation has remained strong, with count numbers consistently higher.

Now, even before we participated in Share Our Strength's breakfast grant program, we had been working hard to implement strategies at all grade levels to increase breakfast participation.  The results were encouraging.... and counts were up by anywhere from 30% at our elementary schools to 150% at our middle schools to 50% at our our high school.  We believe that school breakfast supports the educational environment in our school system, and it is our mission to make sure that our students are well nourished and ready to learn.  

At a recent networking session, I was asked to share the key strategies that we had implemented to increase our breakfast participation.  Here are 4 Keys to Breakfast Success that we like to use:

1. Make Breakfast Accessible.  

We use multiple delivery methods to ensure that all students have the opportunity to eat breakfast at school.

• Traditional Breakfast in the cafeteria.  Students come to the cafeteria at the beginning of the school day and eat their breakfast in the cafeteria as well.
• Grab & Go Breakfast.  Students get breakfast in the cafeteria or other breakfast access point such as a breakfast cart, or vending machine.  The breakfast is then taken back to the classroom or eaten en route.  
• First Class "Room Service" Breakfast cart.  At our middle schools, a breakfast cart, fully loaded with reimbursable breakfasts, goes from room to room during the first block of the day.  By utilizing this method, our middle school breakfast participation has increase by 150%. 
  
• Extended Hours Breakfast  At our high school, we stay open for breakfast essentially until we switch over into lunch service, so students can access breakfast during a study hall or in-between classes.  

2. Make Breakfast FUN!

In our elementary schools, we host monthly Fun Friday Breakfasts.  A Fun Friday Breakfast is a themed breakfast, with a menu, decorations, etc. built around the theme.  Some of our themes have included Frozen, Angry Birds, March Madness, Winter Wonderland, Beach Party and Halloween.  Sometimes we give our small "prizes" such as stickers or Hawaiian leis, but more often the fun in just celebrating the theme.  Our Fun Friday Breakfasts have led to an increased breakfast participation of 30%.  The fun themes and marketing associated with the event have helped to encourage our youngest students to TRY school breakfast.   Additionally, these FUN events have helped to eliminate the stigma associated with eating school breakfast.  

Scenes from our Frozen Themed Fun Friday Breakfast

3. Make Breakfast Tasty.

Stay current with breakfast food trends and make sure you understand what students like, and how their breakfast preferences can fit within the school nutrition guidelines.  Some of our favorite breakfast items are yogurt/fruit/granola parfaits, smoothies, breakfast sandwiches and whole grain muffins. Taste test recipes and get ideas and opinions from your students.  

4. Market Your Program!

Toot your own horn!!!  This is hard to do but incredibly important.   Make sure you are telling administrators, teachers, parents and students about the importance of eating breakfast.  Make sure to highlight the nutrition, value and convenience of school breakfast.  Share menus, events and highlights through menus, newsletters, emails, Facebook, Twitter, your programs website, etc.  

These strategies are working for us.  We still have a long way to go (there is always room to grow!) ....  but we continue to strategize, innovate, and look for new ways to make sure our students are well nourished and ready to learn.   Maybe by School Breakfast Week in March of 2016,  every student in our schools will start the day with a nutritious breakfast!  

Chefs Move to Schools

As I wing my way across the country to attend the School Nutrition Association’s Leadership conference, I find myself pondering my next blog post.  Stuck in my head is a “part II” Make Lunch, Not War post about the players and problems facing school nutrition professionals as we look forward to Child Nutrition Reauthorization 2015 (CNR15).  That post seems stuck in my head, without an eloquent or succinct way for me to continue that discussion.   It just all feels so negative & political…. And it just doesn’t seem to want to come out of my fingertips to the page.  And so, I will continue to push that pot to the back burner and let it simmer some more, as I focus more on productive, and more relevant posts. 

RSU #14 Culinary Boot Camp Training

Almost two years ago, our district made the strategic decision to hire a chef as part of our school nutrition department’s management team.    At the time, we were knee deep into implementing the nutrition guidelines of the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA).    Our strategy & goals were for our chef to help us manage these new changes by assisting us with recipe & menu development, managing nutrient analysis, educating and supporting staff to develop culinary skills and techniques, increasing local foods in our school cafeterias, and increasing interest and excitement at the school level by regularly cooking in our school kitchens at “not guest” Chef events.

Chef Sam portions school made breadsticks

As I look back at the past 2 years, I firmly believe that this was one of the best decisions Windham Raymond School Nutrition program has ever made.    At a critical time, when so many school nutrition programs have battled public perception and experienced decreasing participation, our program has thrived.  Over the past several years, breakfast and lunch participation has been increasing at all grade levels.  It is a frequent occurrence for parents to email us for recipes or comment that they wish THEY had so many great choices for lunch everyday. 

Why a chef?? 

A recent study by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has shown that "chef enhanced school meals increase healthy food consumption."

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/chef-enhanced-school-meals-increase-healthy-food-consumption/

The article explains that while hosting Guest Chef events at schools can add excitement and lend positive public relations to school nutrition programs, having a chef on staff who tests and develops recipes and trains school nutrition staff results in children learning to like AND enjoy healthy whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. The study showed that hiring a chef who works with district school nutrition personnel improved the quality, flavor and palatability of the food, and not only decreases plate waste, but increases school meal participation.   While our district was not part of this study, it could have been.  The research and outcomes have been mirrored in our district, since hiring Chef Sam as part of our School Nutrition staff.

Cheese filled cannelloni 

Chef Sam’s duties range from developing and taste testing the recipes, training and supporting staff as we increase “from scratch” cooking, adapting existing recipes to meet current USDA guidelines while maintaining palatability, and culinary skill building with staff to increase productivity, efficiency and safety in the kitchen.  In addition, she teaches an afterschool cooking class for students and oversees our weekend backpack food program.   Chef Sam frequently works in the school kitchens, alongside school nutrition staff, making delicious and healthy meals.  A current favorite is cheese filled cannelloni with freshly rolled pasta sheets, accompanied by a school baked whole grain roll, garden fresh salad, and a fruit & veggie bar.   Fresh pasta in schools?  Yes, please! 

Knife skills training @ Cooking Club

Chefs are practically celebrities these days, with so many cooking shows on television and in the media, and school chefs are no exception.  There is incredible excitement when Chef Sam is in the kitchen.  Her delicious & nutritious health centered approach to cooking & eating inspires our menus, inspires our students and inspires us!   Any school district looking to build participation, credibility, excitement and enthusiasm for the school nutrition program should consider adding a chef to their team.  When chefs become part of a school nutrition team, the results are increased school meal enthusiasm, increased participation, decreased plate waste, and most importantly, increased consumption of healthy foods, including fruits, vegetables and whole grains in children.

           

Fresh & Local - Lasagna made with fresh pasta