Food and Nutrition Services

Program Description

This Department is responsible for all aspects of student food service. All elementary schools are "satellite" schools, receiving meals prepared at the Central Commissary. Food service personnel at these sites only serve the meals, there is no cooking and minimal cleaning is involved. This method of meal production is cost effective, significantly reducing labor costs while providing for lowered food costs due to the efficiencies of volume production.

Secondary school students are offered three meal choices, numerous salads, a variety of dessert items and fresh fruit. Additionally, a number of branded items are available-Foodee's and Sal's Pizza, Taco-Bell products, Stonyfield yogurt, Gatorade, Fruitopia, and Tropical Paradise Smoothies. Deli bars, featuring grinders made-to-order, soups and chowders are extremely popular.

Numerous promotional activities, subsidized by vendors, involve raffling merchandise such as ski passes, movie passes, gift certificates, skis, and snowboards to generate student enthusiasm, helping to increase sales and participation. Further, private sector involvement by vendors, beyond the traditional customer-purveyor relationship, helps enhance School/Community relations.

The Department community presence is further enhanced by contracting with numerous local Service Agencies to provide food service. These include the Salvation Army, Parks and Recreation, Manchester Housing Authority, and Summerbridge at The Derryfield School. We also cater both School and Municipal events-providing quality food service at considerable savings.

Additionally, we administer the Team Nutrition Project-a collaborative initiative of the Health Department and School District. This project promotes and reinforces healthy life style choices for children through nutrition education, meal planning and physical activity. The project, initially piloted in six elementary schools in 1999, was expanded to include all fourteen elementary sites. A Team Nutrition newsletter has been developed, accompanying the menu sent to parents of all elementary children.

The Team Nutrition Project-through education, promotion, and marketing has enhanced and improved School Lunch Menus, contributing to a greater then ten percent gain in elementary student sales. Partnerships have been formed with the American Health Association, the New Hampshire Dairy Council, and Catholic Medical Center.

In closing, the programmatic improvements have resulted in an increase in meals served daily from 5,615 in 1990 to 8,892 in 2000, a increase of 3,277 or 37%. The corresponding enrollment increase is 1,755 or 10%.