Let Branded Food Help Transform Your Foodservice Options
By: Charles deNicolo
Are you looking to make a positive impact on your bottom line? Do you want to increase your revenue stream? Are students turning their noses up at the typical institutional-style foods that are available? Are students, parents, and teachers clamoring for healthier options? If you answered yes to any of those questions, a branded fast-food concept may be what’s needed.
In the event that you are re-evaluating your present school lunch program, and don’t want to reinvent the wheel, careful consideration should be given to adding a branded quick service component. Branded fast food can be an excellent solution for your school and your student’s mealtime needs. With so much attention placed these days on childhood obesity, nutritional labeling, and healthier lifestyles, you might be surprised to learn that many nationally known fast food brands are very well-equipped and experienced in handling the rigors of proving nutritious and reasonably priced meals to your students and faculty.
The first thing to understand is that students are consumers who identify with familiar trademarks. By offering branded fast food in your school cafeteria, you’ll be providing a product from a brand name that is both well-known and liked by your student patrons, and offering snack and meal options from sources that they trust.
Taking it one step further, other advantages of having branded food as part of a school lunch program is that it could spark renewed interest in your cafeteria. It could also give students an incentive to not leave campus and potentially increase prestige, school pride, and enrollment.
Keep in mind that deciding on a brand to partner with is a lot like buying a car. With so many concepts available, it is important that you determine exactly what your needs are. There are a number of possibilities. Many branded programs can be custom-designed to fit into just about any space and be incorporated into a school’s current foodservice operation, if required. Generally, the idea is to complement an existing program and not take over. Whether the school cafeteria is self-operating or run by a foodservice contractor, many branded fast food concepts will offer the flexibility to choose a program level that is the best fit for you.
The easiest way to bring branded food into your school is to use an off-site delivery program. Since fast food outlets are part of a growing industry, chances are there is a franchise near you. With a delivery program, you are able to select which menu items you want, and they will be prepared and delivered to you. This method enables you to provide a meal that the students want without adding to your labor and inventory costs. All you need to do is place the order and serve the food.
Another way you can offer branded products to your students is to bring the concept right inside the building. This will allow you to provide made-to-order meals by utilizing your own staff or the labor from the foodservice contractor with whom you’re already working. This essentially means that your school or the foodservice contractor becomes the brand’s franchisee.
There is also a third way that generally appeals to schools that do not desire to become directly involved in the day-to-day business of running a fast food restaurant. While it still allows you to offer made-to-order meals for students, faculty, and staff, it also allows you to step back and become a landlord to a local franchisee. The advantage is that labor, construction, and other costs associated with the business are handled by the franchisee.
No matter which option you choose, it all depends on what’s right for you and how much time and effort you want to devote to your foodservice operations.
Now on to choosing a brand—the brands on anyone’s short list should be well-respected and have a proven track record. Do your homework. Not only should you speak with representatives from the brands that you are considering, but also speak with the individuals who run their locations. If you a considering an in-house option, find out if the franchisees are happy with their decision to be part of that brand. Is there dissention among the ranks? Is the corporate office responsive to their needs, and how much say do the franchisees have in operational issues? What types of support, training, and communications systems do the brands have in place? Also, does one always have to deal with the head office or is there local representation available to help when needed?
Nutrition is of paramount importance and another aspect of branded fast food that is increasingly top of mind with parents. With obesity at alarming rates and outcries, from consumer groups and government officials, a brand that would make any A-list is one that has a reputation for providing healthier options.
Also, give extra points to any brand that is able to successfully balance nutritious offerings with great-tasting products. Your students should not have to choose between healthy considerations and flavor—they should be able to have both.
Consumers these days have become especially sensitive to the value they are getting for the dollar and expect to receive exceptional service, as well. It should be no different for your school, and it should be relatively easy to tell which brands are excelling in those areas.
Another big reason for bringing in branded fast food is that it is quite often considered to be comfort food by a large segment of the population, especially the ones who usually frequent your cafeteria.
Remember that the appeal of a branded concept is not only that it comes with built-in name and product recognition, but also a customer base, consumer loyalty, existing menus, recipes, operational systems, suppliers, and advertising programs. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel when dealing with a major quick-service restaurant chain. Also, with rising costs just about everywhere and difficult economic times, it’s good to know that many favorite quick-service brands are seeing upticks in business, while consumers, in general, are cutting back from more indulgent purchases.
If your school had previously considered franchised foodservice, but thought it wasn’t affordable, it is important to know that most chains are very good at what they do. Many have programs in place with very reasonable start-up costs, and, in some instances, franchisee fees can be waived. Being part of a national chain will also allow you to take advantage of their system-wide purchasing power, which will enable you to save money on food, as well as needed equipment and décor items.
If space is an issue, look for a brand with minimal square footage and equipment requirements that allow them to fit just about anywhere. Some concepts can be operated in a small amount of space, such as from a kiosk or behind a counter, while others will require a more elaborate build out. What is most important is that the right concept can be adapted to a wide variety of building styles, while others simply can’t fit.
No matter which way you go, your branded fast food partner should be committed to helping you supplement your existing meal offerings and boost overall participation levels in your foodservice operation, while offering the children in your care menu options with superior nutritional content.
Charles deNicolo is global account manager new business development for Subway, www.subway.com.
Sidebar
Nutrition Education at Lunchtime: Learning Continues in the Cafeteria
By Elizabeth Pivonka
Today, the nation’s children face an epidemic unlike any ever seen before—an epidemic of overweight and obesity. According to statistics from the sixth annual F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America 2009 report, released July 1 by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the percentage of obese and overweight children (ages 10 to 17) is now at or above 30 percent in 30 states. The report also states that overall childhood obesity rates have more than tripled since 1980.
Additionally, a study reported in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in April 2009 has found that one in five American four-year-olds is obese. The study results suggest that more than half a million four-year-olds across the country can now be classified as obese.
There are so many facets to this problem that it is difficult to know where to begin to treat it. Parental nutrition education is one front, but even if parents are well aware of their children’s proper nutritional needs, they can’t control children’s food choices away from home. Inner city “food deserts” are growing, limiting the availability of nutritious food options, like fresh fruits and vegetables, near their homes. Even if healthy options are available, are they economically within reach? For some, the only affordable meal comes from the nearby fast food restaurant’s dollar menu.
The nutrition education children receive in the classroom is a good start, but lessons learned need to be backed up with experiences. School lunches and snacks that feature healthy fruits and vegetables can reinforce the importance of a healthy diet for kids. Remember to also set a good example at school by offering healthy items.
Lunchrooms Can Be Learning Centers
School cafeterias are the best environment in which to reinforce nutrition education messages received in the classroom. Every blank wall is an opportunity to display posters advocating the choice of healthy foods or explaining the new food pyramid.
However, don’t just teach the lesson; live the lesson. Make sure that healthy fruits and vegetables and other nutritious options are a part of every meal served at school and that they’re available in vending machines and student-run school stores, as well as on a-la-carte menus, too. Consider adding a salad bar or planting a school garden and featuring the harvest at a special lunchtime event.
But schools can do even more to help increase children’s fruit and vegetable consumption and combat childhood obesity. Research published in the January 2009 issue of The Journal of Nutrition says that if the availability of less healthy snacks in school is restricted, kids will eat more fruits and veggies all day long. This study reports that children’s consumption of fruits and vegetables increases over the entire day if they attend elementary schools where high-fat and high-sugar snacks are restricted.
These results also indicate that broadening children’s exposure to different kinds of fruits and vegetables at school increases their willingness to try them at home, too. This only strengthens the importance of the fruit and vegetable snack program in schools, which provides many children with their first exposure to several different fresh produce items.
Adding more fruits and vegetables to the menu is easy when you remember that all product forms count – fresh, frozen, canned, dried, and 100 percent fruit and vegetable juice.
Celebrate National Fruits & Veggies—More Matters Month
Don’t forget that September is National Fruits & Veggies—More Matters Month! Celebrating can be easy. Consider making a field trip to a local store. Supermarkets are places where kids can learn many things. Ask them to name different fruits and veggies as you pass them in the aisles. Ask them what color different items are.
Math skills can be reinforced by having them calculate how much it would cost if they bought three, five, or nine items. Practice spelling by asking the kids to spell out different produce items as you hold them up. Take advantage of the trip to throw in a little age-appropriate nutrition education. Unlike museums, planetariums, and other sites, supermarkets typically won’t charge a fee for such an excursion.
Another fun way to celebrate this month and integrate it into the classroom nutrition curriculum is to encourage each child to commit to trying one new fruit or vegetable each week during September. At the end of the month, have each child turn in a short report on their favorite new food item. Some kids might even enjoy bringing in a small sample of their topic for everyone to try.
What About Cost?
Many of the suggestions above come at little to no extra expense to the school or the children. Money for healthy fruits and vegetables and other nutritious items can be found by decreasing the amount spent on less healthy foods and snacks.
It will take the combined efforts of schools and parents to have a true impact on future childhood obesity statistics and the health of all our children. Together, we can ensure that kids reach and maintain a healthy weight by adding more fruits and vegetables to their diets. Imagine the cost to today’s children’s health if we do nothing.
Elizabeth Pivonka, Ph.D., R.D. is president and chief executive officer of Produce for Better Health Foundation, www.pbhfoundation.org.
