5 things: Compass North America revenues down 36.7% in Q1 of FY2021

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 February 1:

Compass Group Plc., the British parent of Compass Group North America, reported a FY2021 first quarter organic revenue decline of 33.7%, an improvement over the 44.3% and 34.1% declines in the third and fourth quarters of FY2020, respectively. The North American unit saw the steepest decline, down 36.7%, while Europe dropped 34.6% and the rest of the world 12.3%. Among individual market segments, sports and leisure was down the most at 76.5%, followed by B&I (-43.4%) and Education (-37%), while healthcare and seniors showed a slight gain of 0.8%.

Read more: Compass Group AGM and Trading Update

Black American children have higher rates of shellfish and fish allergies than white children, a new study conducted at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice finds. It also found that Black children with food allergies were more likely to have asthma than white children with food allergies, and that children with a shellfish allergy were more likely to have more severe asthma.

Related:5 coronavirus things: Sodexo adapts to serving meals to remote workers

Read more: Study: Race a Factor in Food Allergies

The city of San Francisco has filed suit against its school district, demanding the reopening of schools and noting that students in nearby districts as well as those enrolled in the city's private schools have already returned to in-school learning. Parents and some public officials have said months of remote learning were resulting in children falling behind.

Read more: San Francisco Sues Own School District Seeking Reopening of Classrooms

School food service workers in the New Haven School District in Connecticut have ratified a four-year contract that gives them a 2.5% wage increase in the current fiscal year, a 2.75% next year and 3% the following two years. City Budget Director Michael Gormany estimated that to pay food service workers retroactively for this year would add an additional $50,000 in expenses to the food service budget, which was included in the estimated $2 million deficit for the district’s food service program he reported to the Board of Education last month.

Related:5 coronavirus things: Hospital turns to high-tech, self-sanitizing kiosks for safe service

Read more: New Haven plans to give school cafeteria workers raises 4 years in a row

Dining halls at Johns Hopkins University's Homewood campus and Peabody Institute will shift to a self-operated model beginning July 2022, ending an arrangement with Bon Appetit Management Co. that began in 2013. Among the planned changes are renovations to dining facilities, new foodservice spaces in the remodeled O'Connor Recreation Center and the newly built SNF Agora Institute and Student Center facilities, operations considerations that more fully integrate campus cafés with student dining plans, and streamlined meal plans across the Homewood and Peabody campuses.

Read more: University will self-operate campus dining services at Homewood, Peabody

Bonus: Innovator of the Month: At The Clare, the senior dining program is front and center as a resident amenity

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]