Alaskan school district increases participation and revenue with new foodservice provider

JUNEAU, Alaska — Juneau School District’s School Lunch Advisory Board is praising its new “food service provider” as school budget planning begins for 2016. NANA Management Services had provided school breakfast and lunches for JSD since 2008 but was replaced last year with Chartwells School Dining Services for $50,000 more than NANA’s bid.

JSD signed a one-year contract with Chartwells for the 2014-2015 school year, with the option to extend this agreement up to four years. As the district faces another year with a $5 million budget deficit, the SLAB has announced that its new program has exceeded profit expectations.

JSD Director of Finance David Means told the Empire in February that the district hoped to make up for the pricier food service program by increasing participation. He said that a 5 percent increase in participation could result in about $10,000 in increased revenue for the district.

Since the switch to Chartwells, the district as a whole has seen a 20 percent participation increase in the meal program. The new vendor served 1,450 lunches per day in 2014 — up from an average of 1,200 per day in 2013. From 2010 to 2013, the district had seen the number of lunches decline. According to Means’ original estimates, the spike in student participation has increased revenue by about $40,000.

The SLAB meets once a month to discuss changes and recommendations for student meal services at local schools. This month, it commended Chartwells’ new service, which has “more variety, higher quality food items, more homemade style foods, nice food service set up, etc. Comments were made regarding specific improvements, such as, the ‘round’ pizza at all school levels and variety produce served on (the salad) offering bar.”

Chartwells offers an all-you-can-eat salad bar and unlimited milk for students in the meal program. Chartwells specializes in K-12 meals. NANA had previously catered to JSD, University of Alaska Southeast and the Pioneers Home in Juneau. UAS also dropped its contract with NANA in 2014.

The price of school lunches under Chartwells has increased from $3.40 to $3.61 due to higher quality ingredients and equipment. Students pay a regular price of $3.50 for lunch, and the remaining $0.11 per meal is funded by the meal program budget, which remains separate from other program funding. Regular breakfast prices also increased from $1.73 to $1.80, with each student paying $1.75 of this amount.