Merchandising plan is key to Illinois manager's success

Food and Nutrition, Oct, 1985 by Eunice Bowman, Michael Fluharty

Merchandising Plan Is Key to Illinois Manager's Success

Ruth Jonen is responsible for the school lunch program in the five high schools in Illinois' High School District 211. She has been food services director there for 4 years, and in that time has earned a reputation as a first-rate manager.

"It took just 2 weeks on the job for me to find out I had a real problem,' she says, "but I enjoy challenges.'

Her problem was how to merchandise the school lunch program to high school students who had the option to stay at school for lunch, go home, or patronize one of the many nearby fast food restaurants. Complicating the problem was a need to increase the price of school meals.

"In order to cover the labor and basic expenditures in producing a school lunch, I had to raise the price of the meals,' Jonen explains. "When this happened, participation in the lunch program dropped.' She found through a survey that "for every 1 cent increase added to the price of a meal there was a 1 percent decrease in participation.'

Made changes with a merchandising plan

Jonen analyzed the situation, came up with a merchandising plan, and put it into effect within her first 5 months as food service manager. She improved and upgraded food service operations, fought off the fast food competition, and increased school lunch participation even while school enrollment was declining.

She's not only won back former lunch participants, but has also attracted new customers. And she's had no additional price increases in her program since 1981.

The merchandising plan Jonen came up with entailed dividing the one food line into three. Two of the new lines--a regular lunch line and a specialty food bar line--offer complete school lunches that qualify for reimbursement from USDA through the National School Lunch Program. The third line is an a la carte line that offers items students can buy separately.

The merchandising plan was piloted in one high school beginning in April 1981 and then expanded to the four other high schools. During the pilot test, which lasted 6 months, Jonen found that by adding hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries to the regular school lunch line, more kids participated. By the end of the test, the regular line had stabilized and there was an increase of 20 percent in participation, a net gain of 606 kids.

The plan is simple and uses the same food and facilities already available. The food bar lines are set up in different schools as salad bars, hamburger bars, sausage and hot dog bars, and potato bars with various toppings.

One of the five district schools has an ice cream bar once a year in conjunction with an art festival. "This is 100-percent successful,' says Jonen, "and the kids look forward to it each year.'

More opportunities to be creative

Jonen feels the food bar lines are especially good additions to the food service programs because they enable the staff to be creative in food preparation and serving styles. "They allow us to offer kids the food that is the trend in eating habits today,' she says.

In Jonen's district, the food bars change with the seasons. In the fall and winter the soup-and-sandwich bar offers students a choice of three soups and hot sandwiches, including grilled cheese, ham, and roast beef. In the spring and summer, there are salads and sandwiches. "Taco salads are really popular in

the warm months,' Jonen says.

All of the baked goods are baked fresh each day--yeast rolls and bread, cakes, cookies, and puff pastries for the taco shells. Fresh fruits and vegetables are used in season, and a variety of new items appear each year. These are sometimes the cooks' own creations, like the variety of soups available to participants.

"The commodities and administrative funds provided by USDA have allowed us to operate the kind of food program we offer the students,' says Jonen.

"Flour and butter are used in the baked goods. Canned fruits and vegetables are used in other items. All of the USDA foods are put to good use.' USDA-donated foods valued at approximately $200,000 were used in the preparation of meals last school year.

Schools have all contributed

Jonen's enthusiasm about offering nutritious, economical, and attractive meals to students is shared by the food service managers and staff in District 211. Each school has contributed something to the merchandising effort.

The William Fremd High School was the site chosen for the pilot project. The oldest school in the district, it has the largest school lunch revenue--$420,000 for the 1984-1985 school year.

To market the school lunch program, the food service staff participates in an open house hosted by the school each year for parents. This gives them a chance to show parents the spotless cafeteria and give them a sample of the food by serving freshly baked cookies and fruit punch.

Conant High School food service staff developed the spectacular sausage bar with hot dogs, brats, a variety of sausages, and all the trimmings. Since this school has many ethnic groups, they also feature "ethnic food bars,' offering Mexican, Italian, Oriental, and other foods.