Some advice from three school food service stars

Food and Nutrition, Oct, 1985 by Ralph E. Vincent

Some Advice From Three School Food Service Stars . . .

One of the highest honors in the food service industry is the Silver Plate Award, given annually by the International Food Service Manufacturers' Association.

Every year there are eight Silver Plate winners--one in each of eight categories, including a category for elementary and secondary schools. From these eight, a Gold Plate winner, or Food Service Operator of the Year, is selected.

Winners are chosen not only for their management skills, but also for the training and career development opportunities they give their employees, their participation in professional food service organizations, and their contributions to civic, charitable, and educational activities in their communities.

Competing for the award are the very best food service managers from the nation's restaurants, hotels, resorts, hospitals, public and private institutions, corporations, schools, universities, and colleges.

This year's Gold Plate winner is a school food service director-- former American School Food Service Association president Betty Bender of Dayton, Ohio.

The award is a personal achievement for Bender--she is the first woman to receive the Gold Plate Award since 1968 and the second school food service director ever to receive it. Her award is also a tribute to the professionalism of school food service, proving that school food service managers are facing and tackling the same tough challenges as food service professionals everywhere.

Some advice from the pros

In putting together this special school lunch issue, we began by asking Betty Bender and two other recent Silver Plate winners-- Charles Tutt, school food service director for Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Shirley Watkins, director of food and nutrition services for Memphis City Schools, Memphis, Tennessee--their advice on building successful school lunch programs.

While some of their specific suggestions varied, their overall message was the same: Know your customers and involve them in your programs. Give them lots of choices and help them develop skills that will allow them to choose well. Serve attractive food in a pleasant, non-institutional setting. And keep an eye on the competition.

Some of the biggest changes in school food service in recent years are the result of what's been going on outside the school lunchroom. With the growth of the fast food industry, school food service managers have found themselves in stiff competition with slick advertising, fancy food displays, and split-second service. Even in schools where kids cannot leave school grounds for the restaurant down the street, the impact of the fast food revolution is felt.

The importance of variety and choice

"When I first came here,' says Betty Bender, "we offered only one menu and that was what we served and that was that. Those days are long gone. Today kids like to have some say as to what you're going to put into your cafeteria, and they like to have choices as they go through the line.

"With all the advertising and the fast food restaurants that are available, and with families eating out, you find that your young customers are quite selective in their choice of foods, and they have very definite ideas.'

For a generation accustomed to choice, variety is a must. Bender, Tutt, and Watkins all offer salad bars and have one or more other specialty bars, offering such varied fare as deli food, soup and sandwiches, pasta, and Mexican food.

"We've gone to multiple choices of entrees,' says Tutt. "Every day in all of our schools we have pizza, and we have tacos. In the elementary schools, we also have hot dogs.

"Plus, we offer a special of the day--districtwide. It is the more traditional school lunch--for example, spaghetti and meat sauce, french bread, tossed salad, green beans and fruits that go along with the entree of the day.

"Another thing we do is offer three different 1/4-cup servings of fruits and vegetables instead of the traditional 1/2 cup of vegetables and 1/4 cup of fruit. This gives the kids more variety to choose from.'

"Offer versus serve,' a plan that allows students to take three, four, or all five lunch components, reinforces the concept of choice, since children are no longer forced to take food they do not want to eat.

Getting kids involved helps

Along with more choices on the serving line, the three award winners also give students a chance to get involved early on in menu planning through taste tests and advisory panels.

This past spring, for example, Watkins had students taste test foods to help determine what items the food service staff would buy for the first half of the coming school year. Keeping tuned in to what kids want is not only helpful, she says, it's essential.

"In the past 10 years we've tried to identify and recognize what children wanted and we've tried to provide that. Of course, I think the thing that has changed the eating habits of children is the fast food restaurants. Children are now looking for foods they can hold in their hands.