5 things: School meals are the most nutritious in the country, study finds

In this edition of 5 Things, Food Management highlights five things you may have missed recently about developments affecting onsite dining.

Here’s your list for today:

The most nutritious dishes consumed in the United States are eaten by children in schools, according to a study recently published by JAMA Network Open. At work, 51% of adult meals eaten were of poor dietary quality while, for children, only 24% of meals consumed at school were unhealthy, the data showed. The study analyzed the diets of about 40,000 adults and 21,000 children between 2003 and 2018.

Read more: Study: High number of meals consumed in U.S. have low nutritional value

Students at Utah State University will now be able to use their meal plans to place delivery orders from on-campus eateries and grocery stores and get them at dorms, resident halls and campus apartments, thanks to a partnership between the campus dining service and the Paranoid Fan online platform. "We are always looking for ways to improve and add value to our services, and implementing a delivery system for students, faculty, and staff on-campus with the possibility of using housing meal plans is a great way to make our services more convenient for everybody," commented Dining Services Director Alan Andersen.

Related:School nutrition trending: 17 real-life bright ideas; how Chicago Public Schools is feeding every student

Read more: Venue mapping and food delivery app, Paranoid Fan, launches delivery platform exclusively for college campuses

Deuce Drone LLC, a developer of last mile package delivery services by drone, plans to launch lunch delivery service by drone from the Legacy Village retail center to the BB&T Financial Centre office complex in Mobile, Ala. BB&T Financial Centre is an office complex with multiple tenants and up to 300 hundred people onsite daily, while Legacy Village is a multi-tenant retail center hosting local and national brand restaurants and retailers.

Read more: Deuce Drone to Launch Lunch Delivery Service by Drone in Mobile, Alabama

A new nationwide survey of culinary professionals on college and university campuses by the Y-Pulse research organization found that almost all (92%) have shifted to more takeout-friendly dishes while slightly more than half (53%) report that communal dining has been discontinued indefinitely, with 63% saying that group dining restrictions are likely to continue into the 2021-2022 school year. Nevertheless, 95% are operating residential dining fully or on a limited basis. In addition, half of campuses reported that they had a tighter food budget than prior to the pandemic.

Related:5 things: Universal free school meal bill introduced in California legislature

Read more: New Y-Pulse® Study Explores the Future of Campus Dining in US Colleges and Universities

While the Staples Center arena in Los Angeles, home court of the NBA’s Lakers and Clippers, has reopened to fans, they will not be allowed to eat in their seats because they are required keep their masks on, though they can exit during a game to the Chick Hearn Court, which will have an outdoor eating area featuring food trucks and other items for purchase. "It's a very simple process,” says Sam Porter, senior director of operations for concessions company Levy, which operates food and beverage at the venue. “You can sign up for text notifications. Go to your seat, watch the game. If your order's ready, it will tell you when to pick it up."

Read more: As Staples Center reopens to fans, new rules include no food at seats

Bonus: ISS Guckenheimer’s flex solutions tackle evolving needs of B&I dining

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]