Maintaining a la carte sales through smart compliance with snack rules

Maintaining a la carte sales since the implementation of the Smart Snacks in School rule has been a challenge three out of four school FSDs have been unable to meet, according to the School Nutrition Association’s 2015 School Nutrition Trends Report. But others have hit on strategies to increase sales despite the new limitations, even in high schools that allow students to leave campus during lunch.

When Jay Stagg, director of food service at Whitefish School District in Whitefish, Mont., saw that older students weren’t interested in heading to the cafeteria, he implemented some low-cost a la carte strategies to keep sales in-house.

“It’s an open campus, students get out of there very quickly and go to gas stations, Mc Donald’s and all of these other places,” says Stagg. “Looking at it from a business standpoint, it’s just trying to get their money before someone else does.”

He’s managed to boost his a la carte sales by 20 percent through the counter-intuitive approach of charging less, then merchandising more astutely.

Target the exits

Despite offering a variety of salads and wraps, getting high school students “to veer off their path just wasn’t happening,” he says. Instead he decided to get in their way. Last winter, he started filling the school’s concession carts with individual portions of reimbursable meal entrees, which met the Smart Snacks in School criteria.

Snacks and a la carte entrees were priced at $1 and $2, respectively giving students incentive to purchase food that was more affordable than off-campus options. 

Stagg also selected a staff member with a boisterous, outgoing personality to catch the students’ attention and shout out the day’s offerings as the youngsters were leaving “and make them at least see what we have,” he says.

Provide quick service

Stagg also sped up the transaction process by limiting the a la carte options. The carts feature two entree choices and a few grab-and-go snacks, eliminating the need for signage that could slow lines by giving students too many options to navigate quickly. “There’s only about six items, so it’s all right there in front of them,” he says. Additionally, creating a cash-only system and pricing items at an even dollar amount eliminated the need to count out coins as change.

Work with what you have

Stagg also was able to cut his prices by streamlining food prep and repositioning staff. He would select a cafeteria entree, such as a cheese pizza, and have staff make two extra to be cut up as 20 a la carte menu options.

He also took an employee off kitchen prep or dish-washing duties to oversee the cart for 20 minutes as students were walking out.

“[Staff] are just making a few extra items, which doesn’t take longer than 10 minutes,” he says. “It’s really already what we do and its just a matter of putting it in a different place.”