Getting Educated on K-12 Foodservice
To produce federally mandated healthy meals within budget, primary and secondary schools employ multi-purpose equipment.
By Lisa White, Contributing Editor -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 1/1/2009 12:00:00 AM
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Warren Township School district's progressive foodservice program is becoming a more common model for K-12 districts across the country. Following the lead of U.S. colleges and universities, these Indianapolis-area schools have implemented batch and display cooking in a servery setting, creating an appealing retail environment for the district's 12,000 students.
“For the last five years, school districts like ours are redesigning foodservice programs to be more attractive, efficient and cost-effective,” says Justin Hawkins, Warren Township Schools' resident district manager.
And these primary and secondary school districts accomplish this feat without a huge capital outlay. “Most of the time, it's about changing the way food is produced. High schools, in particular, are competing with area restaurants. Consequently, schools are getting more creative with food preparation and variety,” Hawkins says.
In the United States, there are approximately 53 million students in grades K-12, according to a 2007 U.S. Census Bureau report. The Alexandria, Va.-based School Nutrition Association reports that about 95 percent of U.S. schools participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). In 2007, this federally assisted meal program provided low-cost or free lunches to more than 30.5 million children daily.
At the elementary school level, hot lunches tend to be more basic. Servers typically offer these younger students a choice of two or three traditional hot entrées, along with a couple of à la carte items. For the most part, meal options are similar to those on children's menus in many restaurants. Kid-friendly items, such as mac and cheese, pizza, hamburgers and pasta, are lunchroom mainstays.
Schools that house secondary grades, particularly high school, continue to incorporate newer foodservice setups. These provide a wider meal selection and updated format that, in some cases, mirror retail food courts.
School kitchen footprints are increasing to better accommodate more nutritionally balanced scratch cooking programs, according to Scott Papke, district manager at Minnetonka, Minn.-based Taher School Foodservice, a contract foodservice management company. “Many school kitchens built in the '60s were downsized years ago when rethermalization programs were more popular,” Papke says.
With today's programs, schools continue to convert kitchen storage areas back to usable prep and refrigeration space. “These facilities are now accommodating bigger freezers that can hold more ingredients. Today, 1,000-square-foot prep kitchens are being replaced by 1,500- to 2,000-square-foot units,” he says.
This is not the case in all school districts, however. Due to budget and labor concerns, Chicago's public elementary schools utilize bulk foodservice contractors. With this more traditional program, frozen meals are prepared in central commissaries and distributed to schools for reheating in warming ovens. “These school kitchens typically have ovens that accommodate large racks filled with food trays,” says Tom Laws, owner of Elk Grove, Ill.-based Alpha Design. Staff then set the trays on a serving line at meal time.
Because no prep work is done on-site, minimal staff are needed to heat and serve the food. The warming kitchens are bare-bones, as well, consisting of ovens, dry storage and refrigeration for fruit and milk.
Health and Safety Initiatives
All U.S. school foodservice programs have one commonality: To receive reimbursement from the NSLP, lunches must meet the applicable recommendations of the 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This states that no more than 30 percent of calories are derived from fat, and less than 10 percent from saturated fat. These meals must provide one-third of the Recommended Dietary Allowances of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium and calories.
One way many school districts conform to these requirements is by implementing equipment geared toward healthier food preparation. When Texas passed a law prohibiting frying in its schools, the Georgetown Independent School District began replacing its fryers with tilting skillets.
“This type of equipment has helped our foodservice operations offer a broader range of healthier items. Skillets sauté, grill and steam, so they are pretty versatile,” says Karen Kovach, director of child nutrition services for Sodexo, Georgetown Independent School District's foodservice management company.
The district uses other types of multi-purpose foodservice equipment for added efficiency. “We've begun installing combi ovens with speed racks and sheet pans in our high schools. We also use conveyor ovens for producing both pizza and hot sandwiches,” Kovach says.
Fryers also have been eliminated in Missouri's Windsor School District kitchens, which has a mandated policy on providing healthy food to its students.
Some schools now use computer-controlled combi ovens in place of fryers, according to Bridget Jordan, FMP, foodservice director at Chartwells School Dining Services, which serves as Windsor School District's foodservice management firm. “The results have been so impressive that the kids don't even realize the chicken strips and french fries are not fried,” she says. “We first changed out the equipment in our middle schools, anticipating that the high school students would be more discriminating and it would be a harder sell. Fortunately, the older students couldn't tell the difference.”
In an effort to provide healthier food and adhere to budget restrictions, Minnesota's Austin School District installed energy-efficient steamers in one high school and three elementary schools. “School districts are requesting more steamers, since they preserve foods' nutritional profiles,” Papke says. “We're seeing this segment moving away from heat-and-serve foodservice. Scratch cooking is not only healthier from a dietary standpoint, but it also enhances food quality.”
With carbonated beverages disappearing from many school lunchrooms, beverage dispensers have been replaced by self-serve coolers. These are stocked with healthier alternatives, including milk, water and fruit juice.
Along with healthier food initiatives, there is a continued focus on food safety in U.S. schools. In operations with central kitchens, food temperatures are constantly monitored. “Food is temped right off of the cooking line, prior to being placed in transport carts, before leaving the central commissary, upon arrival at the school and before hitting the serving line,” Laws says.
This time-consuming endeavor has many school districts looking at incorporating state-of-the-art wireless temperature monitoring technologies. “Schools that are still manually monitoring food and equipment temperatures are looking into computer- and equipment-driven devices that document readings for HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) programs,” Papke says. These temperature logs provide printed reports that can be kept for future reference.
Sensors mounted in walk-ins, heated cabinets and both undercounter and reach-in refrigerators can help ensure the maintenance of proper temperatures.
“While alarm systems have been around for awhile, these devices take it to another level,” Laws says. In addition to alerting staff when there's a problem, temperature records also are preserved.
Along with offering increased accuracy, temperature-monitoring devices provide a safety net that can potentially save schools money. “If a freezer door is accidentally left open, you're talking big dollars. Considering the costly problems that can be averted with these devices, the price is relatively inexpensive,” Laws says.
Updated kitchen designs also can add a new measure of safety. Missouri's Windsor School District built two new kitchens with open designs, which gives the lead supervisor a clear view of the production area, storage line, cafeteria and refrigeration areas. Because this layout allows for better employee supervision, the work environment is safer.
“Work areas are in the center of the kitchen, providing easier accessibility. In addition, wider walkways and the absence of center aisles make it easier for kitchen staff to get around. “In older kitchens, worktables would be in undesirable locations and we had problems with open oven doors hitting the food warmers. Now, there is more clearance room for the equipment,” Jordan says.
Unlike older school kitchens with outdated mechanicals, Windsor's new facilities have plumbing and drains that are appropriate for current equipment needs. Jordan says this has had an impact on safety. “For example, with proper placement of the new kitchen drains, workers can safely drain pots of boiling water toward the back of the combi,” she says.
In the K-12 segment, budgetary restrictions sometimes dictate that school districts purchase food in bulk and utilize leftovers whenever possible.
Many districts have installed large walk-in coolers and freezers to accommodate bulk food deliveries, according to Robert Land, owner of Tallahassee, Fla.-based Food Service Design Concepts. “Schools also employ blast chillers, which can safely reheat leftover product rapidly.”
Addressing Service
With the School Nutrition Association reporting that the average K-12 lunchtime lasts between 25 and 30 minutes, it is no surprise that efficient service is a primary goal in this segment. Multi-purpose foodservice equipment helps schools meet this objective, while also accommodating varied menus, budget limitations and space restrictions. Combi ovens, tilting skillets and other foodservice equipment serving multiple functions not only save kitchen space, but also minimize labor and maximize efficiency.
The Georgetown School District incorporated multi-purpose equipment in one of its new high school kitchens with the goal of increasing throughput.
“Line cues are not always balanced. Also, schools need to move food stations, so flexibility is key,” says Sandra Perry, senior marketing specialist, Southwest, at Sodexo School Services. “Serving units with wells that can be used for either cold or hot food have provided us with more varied menu options.”
For added flexibility in a school project, Laws created a serving line section including wells that could be heated or cooled with the flip of a switch.
“The units offer up to six wells. Because all pans within a single unit are either hot or cold, I typically specify two three-well units, instead of a six-well. This way, operators can heat one unit and refrigerate the other for both hot and cold dishes. They also have the option of heating or refrigerating both units simultaneously,” Laws says.
The increased popularity of custom-made sub sandwiches has many schools replacing four-foot sandwich tables with six-foot units.
For added flexibility and another level of insurance, Laws typically specifies two three-foot sandwich tables, which staff can use side-by-side. “This way, if the compressor goes out on one unit, the other can still be used,” he says.
Along with accommodating a variety of items, today's school serving lines include built-in self-serve refrigeration that helps expedite service. The added visibility of a grab 'n go area also encourages impulse sales. “After adding a self-serve cooler, one school reported a 20-percent sales increase in these food products,” Laws says.
Relocating the refrigerated beverage storage from the kitchen into the servery allows for additional labor savings.
In one high school kitchen redesign, Laws created an efficient, self-serve beverage area. “Product can be directly loaded into the walk-in cooler, which is on the service line. The cooler doors face into the servery, so students can help themselves to beverages, pre-wrapped sandwiches and packaged salads. Not only does this save labor, but the kids are able to get in and out of the servery more quickly.”
Often in newer schools or those located in growing districts, kitchens and serving stations are designed to accommodate an increasing student population.
For example, Georgetown School District's new high school dining area was built with an additional service line that is inactive at the moment but can be utilized in the future. The Windsor School District has reinvested in its older kitchens by adding combis for better efficiency.
In terms of flexibility, Laws prefers combi ovens over convection steamers. “Convection steamers only accommodate 12-inch by 20-inch pans, whereas combis are more versatile,” he says.
Incorporating multipurpose foodservice equipment not only gives schools more options, but also helps modernize school foodservice.
Chartwells' secondary school program is a prime example of a thriving foodservice operation. Its concept includes a grill area for sandwiches; a Trattoria that offers three pizza varieties daily; Sandwich Central, which features a choice of four lunch meats, two cheeses, homemade rolls, wraps and fixings; Origins for homemade comfort food; and Menutainment, a grab 'n go area that includes packaged wrap sandwiches, salads, vegetable sides and fruit plates. Cold tables and milk coolers are built into the serving lines.
“The program is set up like a food court, with cooking in the kitchen and profile stations in a scramble system setup,” Jordan says. Because the bulk of labor is expanded for cashiering, serving and cleaning from 11 a.m. till 2 p.m., the setup is more conducive to efficiency.
Some newer school installations incorporate concession stands that help speed up lunchroom service. With these setups, snack items like popcorn, nachos, slushies and ice cream sandwiches are loaded onto a concession cart and transported to a separate area within the dining room, but opposite the servery. “This relieves some of the pressure in the servery area,” Laws says.
Schools with budgets that prohibit purchasing updated and technologically advanced equipment can choose from some less-pricey options. Laws provides an example of a convection oven model that includes a water line hookup with an atomized water feature. “Traditional convection ovens finish off croissants nicely, but when water is atomized over the bread during baking, it creates a crispy top and nice brown color,” Laws says. Although the convection oven's water feature isn't programmable like a combi's, the unit offers an alternative for schools on tight budgets.
Going Green
Along with adding multi-purpose equipment that provides healthier food profiles, primary and secondary schools are keeping with the general foodservice industry trend of adopting greener operation initiatives.
In a survey by the School Nutrition Association, more than 75 percent of school district respondents had at least one eco-friendly practice in place. While approximately 42 percent of school districts report they use energy-efficient equipment, the larger districts are more apt to implement these units.
Recycling is being employed by almost 40 percent of those surveyed, with one in five districts utilizing locally sourced food/supplies or green cleaning products, reports the SNA.
Because of its water's high mineral content, the Georgetown Independent School District has implemented equipment that is easy to clean and maintain. “Our environmentally friendly practices include using garbage disposals that recycle water for cleaning dishes. We also have walk-in freezers with two doors, which allows employees to use one door for access. This keeps more cold air in and promotes better energy efficiency,” Kovach says.
Water conservation is the focus in many Florida schools. In fact, newer dishwashers are being instituted that cut water use by two-thirds, according to Land. “Our school districts are utilizing disposers with water flow control and recirculating disposers that scrap and grind. This reduces total water usage by 30 percent,” he says.
Newer ventilation units also have been employed. “I would estimate that these have provided kitchens with a 50-percent reduction in lost heating and air conditioning,” Land says.
Still, cost constraints tend to dictate how green a school district can be. “With school budgets, it's all about what's affordable,” Papke says.
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