Hot potato in the school cafeteria: more districts outsource their food services, but some raise questions about personnel relations and savings

School Administrator, Sept, 2004 by Kate Beem

All Seasons Services

1265 Belmont St. Brockton, MA 02301

Contact: William Batchelor

508-559-9000

www.4allseason.com

With contracts in six school districts in Massachusetts. New York and Pennsylvania, All Sea sons Services is one of the smaller public school food service providers, serving 14,850 students. Gross sales in the dining division are $25 million with $3.2 million from K-12 public school food programs. They also provide services for business and industry, colleges and universities and private schools.

Ceres Food Group

5150 N. Northwest Highway Chicago, IL 60630

Contact: John Koubek

773-385-5109

www.ceresfood.com

Ceres Food Group, a for-profit arm of the Chicago Catholic Archdiocese, provides food service to 27 school districts in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. The division's gross annual review is $12 million with $6 million generated from public school contracts. Ceres markets to school districts that lack facilities for on-site food preparation.

Fitz, Vogt & Associates

P.O. Box 819 Walpole, NH 03608

Contact: Bob Long

603-756-4578

www.fitzvogt.com

Operating revenue from four school districts enrolling 3,700 students in New Hampshire and Vermont and consultation in a fifth district accounts for 3 percent of Fitz, Vogt & Associates' total revenue of $38.2 million. The company also contracts with independent schools, colleges, camps, health care facilities and assisted living facilities.

Metz & Associates

Two Woodland Drive Dallas, PA 18612

Contact: Toby Homer

570-675-8100

www.metzltd.com

Metz & Associates serves approximately 115,000 students in 38 school districts in New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Of the $60 million generated in corporate revenue, approximately 50 percent is from school food service business. The company also contracts with higher education, health care, business and industry and senior citizen programs.

Nutrition

202 South Third St. West Newton, PA 15089

Contact: Jerry Moore

800-442-2138

www.nutritionent.com

Nutrition contracts with 81 public school districts in Ohio and Pennsylvania and serves 215,000 meals per day. The company has gross revenues of $60 million annually, 80 percent of which comes from school food services.

Taher

5570 Smetana Drive Minnetonka, MN 55343

Contact: Bruce Taher

952-945-0505

www.taher.com

Operating in eight Midwestern states, Taher serves 150 school districts and 275,000 students. The largest district is 8,000 students; the smallest is 1,000 students. School food service represents about 50 percent of Taher's business.

Whitsons

379 Oakwood Road Huntington Station, NY 11746

Contact: Paul Whitcomb

800-813-5833

www.whitsons.com

Whitsons provides food service to 20 school districts enrolling more than 100,000 students in Connecticut and New York Total annual revenue is $58 million, of which 51 percent is from school food service.

RELATED ARTICLE: A menu for success in the school cafeteria.

BY RAYMOND YEAGLEY

The decision to outsource management positions of our district's food service program wasn't a hard one for our school board. The program was maintaining a positive financial balance by reducing the quality of meals. Employee morale was at an all-time low, and student participation was in steady decline.