Workshops help school lunch managers in Pennsylvania

Food and Nutrition, April, 1986 by Joe Dunphy

Workshops Help School Lunch Managers in Pennsylvania

Jack Koser brags about the fact he spends 90 percent of his workday in school cafeterias. What else, you might ask, would a school food service director be doing?

"Paperwork," says Koser. "There's just so much recordkeeping in this business that it can keep you from where you really should be--in the lunchroom finding out what does and doesn't work with the kids."

The way out of the paperwork dilemma, he says, requires neither a staff of thousands nor Merlin the Magician. It takes a little knowledge of computers and a willingness to try new things.

Koser, who is school food service director for the Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania, became fascinated by computers and their application in the food service industry when he worked at the University of Pennsylvania.

Software was available at the Ivy League school that could instantly precost banquets, automatically develop recipe measurements for meals for from 5 to 5,000 people, and accurately keep inventory of every food service item from paper products to condiments.

When he left Penn for a career in school food service, Koser was determined to have as much computer sophistication as he could working for him.

"With the knowledge I brought with me, I could see that school food service, as a profession, was years behind in the use of computers," the district director says. "And I felt we all needed to get more involved."

Workshops offer

chance to help

The chance to share this technical knowledge with his peers came last year when he was asked to assist with a series of workshops on computers sponsored by USDA and the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

"The state wanted to get more schools involved in computers," Koser says. "It was a great opportunity not only for me but for all who were able to take advantage of the courses."

According to teachers and students alike, the workshops were an unqualified success. The sessions were both basic in design and relative to the needs of the participants. Small classes allowed for hands-on training, and software included programs for menu management, financial statements, and inventory control.

The combination maintained interest not only through the course, but also when students returned to their schools.

Betty Bass, school food service director for the Lackawanna Trail School District in the northeastern part of the state, says she had little computer training before taking the course.

"Once we got our hands on the computer and saw it wouldn't bite," she says, "I think the whole class found it quite easy to learn." Since the training, Bass has been able to work with her school district in developing an accounts payable/receivable system on the district's main computer.

"With the disks from the course, I'll be able to do a lot more when I get my own terminal," she says. "And with the time I save, I'll be able to get to my five buildings more often."

Other managers

also see benefits

Irene Metzger, food service director at the Loyalsock Township School District in Williamsport, says while some of the course programs were inappropriate for her small district, she found the training to be a great asset.

"It really hit the target," she says. "I'd recommend it for anyone in school food service."

After taking the course, the Williamsport director was able to get an inventory program for government commodities written for her district. "I went to the computer teacher about putting together a program, but he couldn't work in any free time," Metzger says. "So he made it a student assignment." The program is now in place and saves her 1 day's manual work a month.

One director who bought the computer concept lock, stock, and barrel was Ed Gordon, head of food service at the Bensalem Township School District in suburban Philadelphia.

"I'm sold," he says. "I've got a PC (personal computer) here in my office. And, I've bought an entire food service software package along with 16 hours of training time."

Gradually, Gordon says, he is bringing all facets of his operation into the electronic age. And the effort is paying dividends.

"Last summer, it took me 4 weeks to build an inventory file of about 800 items," he says. "Before the school year is half over, I'll easily make that time back."

Another computer time saver, Gordon has found, is in the area of the daily accounting of meals and money and periodic tabulations. "I used to have a journal that required writing in numbers each day for each school," he says. "With the computer, it's much quicker and cleaner, and you don't have to worry about errors in the totals."

Gordon credits the workshops with fueling his interest in computer technology. "I think what did it was the fact that the course dealt specifically with areas we could relate to," he says. "The people who put the workshops together came up with a good concept."

Workshops were

carefully planned