5 things: NAACP charges discrimination in school meal service availability

Each Friday Food Management compiles a list that highlights five things you probably missed in the onsite foodservice news that week and why you should care about them.

Here’s your list for the week of January 25:

The NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is charging that districts ceasing school meal service are violating civil rights laws because a high proportion of students receiving the subsidized meals are Black, and even in places where meals are offered, limitations like site location and pickup times prevent many Black families from accessing them. In one case in Alabama, the LDF sued a school district to force it to restart a meal service it had halted.

Read more: The Pandemic Reveals Racial Gaps in School Meal Access

A recent survey by the National Association for Business Economics found that just 11% of the 97 panelists from various companies polled expect all of their employees to return to working in an office once the coronavirus pandemic has ended, with those from the services sector most likely to have this view. Among other findings, about two-thirds said that all or most of their employees have worked from home during the pandemic, and about half said that they plan to suspend work-from-home policies at some point this year.

Related:5 coronavirus things: CDC study finds low COVID spread in schools

Read more: NABE Business Conditions Survey

Northwestern University reopened its overhauled campus dining halls in mid-January following its Wildcat Wellness quarantine period at the start of its spring term. In order to follow COVID-19 safety protocols, each dining hall requires online reservations and has plexiglass dividers at the front desks, as well as socially distanced seating arrangements, serving lines and mobile contactless ordering, with students allowed to eat together mask-free only after they have taken a seat. That is a policy that some students have expressed concerns about, with one noting that, “When you look in the dining halls, you almost don’t think that we’re in a pandemic right now. It really looks as if things are back to normal.”

Read more: As Northwestern Dining halls reopen, students express concerns about COVID-19 safety protocols

FM Top 50 firm Brock & Company, Inc. has announced that former president and CEO Lynmar Brock, Jr., 86, passed away last month. “It is with great sadness that I share the passing of my father, Lynmar Brock, Jr. Through his drive and desire to lead change, he helped shape Brock into the company it is today,” said current President/CEO Andrew J. Brock, who succeeded his father as company head upon his retirement in 2007. “My father will be remembered for his dedication to his family, the company, and his charitable work with Rotary International.”

Related:5 coronavirus things: Student Association pushes for smaller mandatory meal plan option

Lynmar Brock Jr. served with the company for 45 years, succeeding his father, company founder Lynmar Brock Sr., as president/CEO in 1962. He began to pivot the business away from mobile catering toward operating business cafeterias to take advantage of the trend of American workers moving from factories to offices, and in 2001, he further expanded its reach by entering the independent school market.

Highlighting the expansion of cashless operation in venue concessions, Delaware North has partnered with payments technology firm InComm Payments to implement the latter’s cashless payment solution at select sports venues where Delaware North operates food and retail services. InComm’s system allows fans to exchange cash for a branded gift card without paying a purchase fee at a venue's guest services office and other locations that they can then use to buy food, merchandise and other goods.

Read more: Delaware North implementing InComm Payments cashless solution at select sports venues

Bonus: Renovated dining hall opens at Grambling State University

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]