State of K-12 foodservice: Getting comfortable with change

Since COVID-19 shut down schools four years ago, school nutrition operators have faced one change after the next.

“This is kind of the current state of school nutrition, right? Change.” says Emily Hanlin, food service director for Cobb County School District in Marietta, Georgia.

The changes show no signs of slowing this school year as operators prepare to meet the new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) School Nutrition Standards which will make adjustments to sodium restrictions and more in school meals.

At Cobb County, Hanlin and her team are already making modifications to their menu this school year so they can be prepared when the first of the new rules goes into effect next fall.

One component of the new regulations that the nutrition team is paying particular attention to, is the new added sugar restrictions which are broken into different phases in over a period of years. The first phase begins during the 2025-26 school year and would put product-based added sugar restrictions on grain-based desserts, breakfast cereals, yogurts and flavored milk. 

Cobb County’s milk offerings already meet the updated added sugar guidelines and yogurt should also not be an issue.

“Luckily, several of the manufacturers have adjusted their [yogurt] formulations, so we're just trying to figure out which yogurt our students will accept best,” says Hanlin.

Some of the district's cereal products, however, will not meet the new standards, so the team will be analyzing its cereal offerings this year to see where they can make modifications to the menu, whether that be adjusting how many times a week they offer cereal or seeing if the manufacturers are able to transform their products into lower-sugar versions that students will accept.

Added sugar restrictions for breakfast cereals and yogurt will also be coming to the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) which the district administers to offer an after-school snack to students.

Again, the team will have to update its menu to fit the new regulations. Hanlin is employing a creative approach to coming up with new menu items. Students serve themselves their afterschool snack Hanlin says, so, the new additions need to be something simple that students can grab themselves.

One change brought on by the new regulations that Hanlin and the team are looking forward to is modifications to the whole grain requirement at breakfast. Previously, operators were required to offer a 1.0 ounce serving of grains with breakfast, now, they can offer grains, meats/meat alternates or a combination of both instead.

“We can now create some things where maybe it's a larger smoothie that's more protein focused, and we don't have to also then add the muffin to meet the calories and check off that grain box,” says Hanlin.

Finding cost relief

Another challenge looming over the head of many school nutrition operators this school year is rising costs.

As food costs increase, school meal reimbursement rates have only risen by cents this school year, leaving many respondents of FoodServiceDirector’s 2024 State of K-12 survey to cite rising costs as one of their biggest challenges they currently face.

At Derry Township School District in Hershey, Pennsylvania the nutrition team is introducing a new menu planning and production system named MenuLogic to help them better manage spending.

"We stumbled upon MenuLogic through our industry connections and from the recommendation of another Food Service Director,” Food Service Director Greg Hummel shared in an email. “Its reputation for being incredibly user-friendly and effective, along with knowing it was created and supported by a team who really get the ins and outs of school nutrition, made it an obvious fit for our program.”

The team will use the new technology’s analytics to gain insights into their costs, food waste and what menu items are popular with students.

Staff are currently being trained on the new system and Hummel is hopeful that it will allow them to modify their menus to better meet their challenges head on.  

“With insights we’ve never had before, we’ll soon be in a position to improve our operations and outcomes in ways we hadn’t imagined,” he shared. “The goal is to get our team to see the system as a tool for working smarter, not just another piece of software to figure out.”