Kids are helping themselves to healthy lunches

Kids Are Helping Themselves to Healthy Lunches

State school food service directors in the Southeast identified better merchandising as a primary need 3 years ago. The first joint project to address this need was the development of the "School Recipe Portfolio' merchandising manual.

Developed by eight states in cooperation with the Southeast Regional Office of USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, the manual shows how the school meal recipes should look on the serving line and gives "how to' ideas for easy and attractive garnishes.

Some Southeastern food service directors and staff are implementing another approach to merchandising attractively prepared foods: student self-service.

Vivian Pilant, state food service director for South Carolina, is one of the growing number of creative school lunch merchandisers who are helping schools successfully use this approach.

"Self-service can be a good way to provide nutritionally sound meals in a cost-effective way,' says Pilant. "It reduces waste and encourages children to learn about food choices.'

Training critical to system's success

Training is critical to the success of self-service. Pilant is using statewide public television to educate teachers and students on the concepts of self-service as well as to train food service employees on merchandising tips for the serving lines.

Earlier this year, South Carolina sponsored the "Southeastern Seminar on Innovative Serving Systems' that drew state and local school food service personnel from throughout the Southeast region. At this conference in Georgetown County, federal, state, and local staff exchanged knowledge and shared experiences on self-service programs.

"I realized that there were a lot of good things going on out there that we were not yet doing in South Carolina,' says Pilant, "and I also saw that we were doing some things that other states were interested in hearing about.'

As part of this meeting, participants observed the successful self-serve operation at Andrews Primary School in Andrews, South Carolina. Georgetown County food service director Susan Williams, who supervised the process of setting up self-service at Andrews, says at first she was skeptical, but is now sold on the new system.

Works even for youngest students

"When we were planning new schools several years ago, we called in food service systems specialists John Friese, of the Food and Nutrition Service, and Bobbie Berry Rudisill, of the state department of education, to plan the operation for Andrews Primary,' Williams explains.

"Andrews serves 4-year-olds through fourth graders, and when John first approached us about having self-serve for all students, I thought he was kidding. We didn't know if 4-and 5-year olds could really serve themselves.

"Even after we decided to go to self-service, I had some second thoughts when a parent told me there would be spaghetti on the ceiling if kindergarten children served themselves,' she laughs.

Fortunately, that did not happen when Andrews converted to self-service during the 1984-1985 school year. Instead of more waste, there was less, and there were more children participating in the lunch program.

According to Williams, there are a number of technical obstacles to overcome in converting to self-serve. First, the proper height serving counter must be used to accommodate kindergarten students.

The correct placement of the "sneeze guards'--to insure sanitation of foods on the serving line--is also an important consideration. Williams suggests working closely with health departments and equipment specialists early to prevent problems later on.

Williams also explains that it is important to educate students, teachers, and parents on self-serve concepts and procedures. "The teachers have been very helpful in guiding the students, and we have received the backing of the principal and parents. We try to get the students and parents involved-- helping us plan menus, for example.'

Self-service line is carefully designed

Merchandising and nutrition education work together in the Andrews cafeteria. The self-serve line, with dual-sided serving counters, has been designed to resemble a train, complete with a smoke-stack, wheels, and caboose. Trays are stacked in front to look like a cowcatcher.

The brightly colored lunch area carries out the railroad theme with train cars painted on the walls showing the different food groups. Food service workers are outfitted as engineers.

Throughout the cafeteria, food groups are color-coded on attractive menu boards and signs--meats are red, vegetables are green--to help students classify food as they are selecting items. Students have a choice of at least two and sometimes three entrees and several fruits and vegetables.

"The kids love it,' says Williams, and the best part is they're eating the food, and they like lunch.'

They're also more adventuresome, which is something Pilant sees often with self-service. "Students are more likely to try foods they select themselves--foods that would go uneaten if served to them,' she says.

FNS regional reviewers visited Andrews last year to see how self-serve was working. According to Charles Kirby, director of special nutrition programs for FNS' Southeast region, they found that the system was working with few exceptions and that most of the children were taking enough food to meet the meal requirements.

"Self-service takes a good bit of monitoring,' says Kirby. "The food needs to be served in such a way so that if the child picks up an item it will satisfy a meal component requirement.'

Presentation is important, too. Says FNS' John Friese, "Since children are more likely to choose items that look attractive, it's important to pay attention to merchandising the food.' In Friese's experience, self-serve makes it easy for children to find foods they like within the choices they have.

Schools see less waste

Although there may be expenses involved in purchasing or modifying equipment for self-service, there are usually savings derived in reduced labor hours. At Andrews, for example, fewer labor hours are now required due to the change in the work of the cafeteria staff.

Another change is that small batches of food are cooked throughout the lunch periods, which provides all students with freshly cooked food and cuts down on waste.

A number of schools in other states, especially in Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee, have implemented self-serve systems. Connie Beaudoin, food service director in Leon County, Florida, offers a choice of two meals, a hot plate meal, and self-serve bars serving Maxican food, potatoes with a variety of toppings, and soup and salad.

Although most of the foods on the self-service bars are not preportioned, Beaudoin says certain highcost meat items are either served to the students or portioned in individual containers. In addition, some hot foods such as toppings for potatoes and meat sauce for tacos are served to younger students for safety reasons.

Beaudoin has not seen any labor savings by going to self-service but does find food costs have lowered. She attributes this primarily to the extensive use of commodities on the self-serve lines.

Idea is catching on in many areas

No Alabama school had tried a self-service system for elementary school students until state child nutrition consultants Anne Freeman and Janice Wood convinced the Montgomery County food service supervisor to test self-serve at Dannelly Elementary in Montgomery.

Since it was a pilot program, existing equipment was used to save money. Folding tables that were 26 inches high provided a low serving line for the younger students.

It is not uncommon to increase school lunch participation as a result of converting to a self-serve operation. Participation at Dannelly increased substantially, and now 95 percent of the students eat school lunch.

Because of the success at Dannelly, all of the Montgomery County schools are changing to the self-service concept. In Nashville, Tennessee, more than 125 schools plan to implement self-service by the end of next year.

School food service is changing to keep up with students' needs. With innovations like self-service and choice menus for all students, school lunch programs are becoming more modern and efficient operations for future generations of children.

For more information, contact:

Vivian Pilant, Director Office of School Food Service State Department of Education 1429 Senate Street, Room 403 Columbia, South Carolina 29201 Telephone: (803) 758-7665

T.G. Smith, Coordinator Child Nutrition Programs State Department of Education 549 State Office Building Montgomery, Alabama 36130 Telephone: (205) 261-5162

Photo: In Andrews, South Carolina, children move quickly through the self-service lunch line.

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