New Food Service Concepts for Our Schools

By Jeanne Hopkins, Director of Food Services, Superior School District

Smarter Lunchrooms…don’t you just love that phrase?  It is all about taking some very simple and basic ideas, applying them to how we serve food to kids and hopefully get the kids to make good food choices.

In the photo we see some fresh apples on the lower-left in a very unappealing stainless steel institutional type container.  In the upper-righthand corner of the picture, we see the same apples, but in a very attractive basket, and it is at a height where the younger kids will find it easier to grab an apple. Smarter lunchroom idea.  Perfect. The first day we made this change in display in the Superior Schools, we actually served more apples!

Along the same idea is how we arrange milk in the milk cooler. Do we have the chocolate milk first for the students to grab, or is the white milk first? Since white milk is the healthier choice, we chose to place it nearest the front of the cooler, in hopes that students will select it as their first choice as they travel through the lunch line.

These may seem like small baby steps, but recent research has shown that simple strategies like these are beginning to make a difference in how our children choose their meals. By helping our students make better choices, we are able to help them eat healthier on their own.

You may not have noticed yet that the Superior School District has started along the path towards Smarter Lunchrooms, but we have. Please stay tuned for upcoming articles as I bring you more photos and information that demonstrates how our students are beginning to respond to these new ideas.

As they say, this will be “food for thought.”