5 things: Supply shortages force supper cutback at major K-12 district

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:

Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland, one of the largest public school districts in the country, says it will stop handing out free suppers to some students, citing supply chain issues and national shortages. Students enrolled in before- and after-school enrichment programs will continue to receive supper, but all other students will lose access, according to the school system, which notified parents of the move in a newsletter and by a robocall.

Read more: Citing supply chain shortages, free suppers end in Prince George’s Co. Public Schools

Concessions workers at Oracle Park, home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, have called off a threatened strike and approved a new labor contract that the union says ensures affordable health care and provides for an immediate wage increase of $3 an hour, increasing to $7 an hour by 2024. Additionally, workers will get hazard pay bonuses of $1.50 hourly for games worked in the 2020 and 2021 baseball seasons, and the contract ensures increased pension benefits for both full-time and seasonal workers.

Related:5 things: Former NYC Schools foodservice head arrested for bribery scheme

Read more: Oracle Park concessions workers approve new contract

In Michigan, Beaumont Hospital in Troy and Spectrum Health's Butterworth and Blodgett healthcare campuses in Grand Rapids are offering medically tailored meals to patients with diabetes and congestive heart failure, respectively. Both contract with Gordon Food Services to provide the meals, which are prepared, packaged, and flash-frozen, with either Gordon or UPS delivering seven dinners a week for 10 weeks to participants' homes, all with appropriate sodium and carbohydrate content that make them good choices for patients with diabetes or congestive heart failure.

Read more: Michigan hospitals offer meals tailored to patients' medical needs

A recent outbreak of norovirus on the Georgetown University (GU) campus has caused some controversy about student dining options and limiting dining choices as GU recently extended its meal plan purchase requirement to include all residential undergraduate students. Previously, only resident freshman had to purchase full price meal plans while sophomores had the option of a reduced-price plan and upperclassmen could opt out entirely. Before the cause of the virus was determined—GU says its campus dining locations are safe to reopen—some students say they were forced to spend extra money buying meals off campus, wasting the dollars already paid into the campus meal plan.

Related:5 tech things: Supermarkets begin robot rollout

Read more: EDITORIAL: Rebuild Trust in Campus Dining

While some other onsite dining programs are struggling to find enough workers, in-flight meal company Gate Gourmet has announced that, effective Nov. 19, it will lay off 536 of its staff at Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport because of a slowdown in air travel. The layoffs reportedly include 69 setup workers, 74 food prep employees, 20 lead porters, 46 cafeteria attendants, 12 cooks, 17 storage helpers and 2 sous-chefs.

Read more: Airline caterer Gate Gourmet laying off 247 workers at LAX – Press Telegram

Bonus: Elior develops enhanced Prepped catering program for the pandemic environment

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]