Coin Toss
Rather than demonize vending, schools find more-healthful food and beverage options
By Margaret Sheridan, Senior Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 4/1/2004
Say "school vending" and brace for a barrage of conflicting sounds.
One is vocal protest from critics who blame food and beverages available in school vending machines for much of the upswing in childhood obesity.
Another noise is the jangle of coins. Vending provides revenues that cash-strapped schools rely on to help fund teacher aides and building renovation, as well as purchases of musical instruments, team uniforms and furniture.
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Another voice comes from school foodservice directors, seeking to have their compromise solutions heard above the din. They wrestle daily with complex and controversial balancing acts involving child nutrition and school revenues, and many have made vending both profitable and healthful.
In addition to nutrition concerns, vending raises questions of control. Who wields clout when it comes to what products are offered in machines? Superintendents, parents, school purchasing managers or foodservice directors?
Egos as much as issues set the agenda, says Pavel Matustik, chief administrative officer for Santa Clarita Valley (Calif.) School Food Service Agency, who oversees foodservice for 40 schools. "As a foodservice director I have no legislative authority. We can provide healthy choices in schools, but the rest of the campuses and departments do not have to [do the same]. When the athletic director has a fund-raiser with candy, I lose money."
New rules—drawn up by districts or imposed by state legislators—call attention to vending's role, but also magnify finger pointing. The nation's two largest school districts, New York City and Los Angeles, enacted bans on soft-drink sales in January.
Philadelphia Public Schools officials voted in February to prohibit sales of carbonated beverages in 276 schools, beginning this July. It will result in an estimated loss of $500,000 in sales. The action comes in response to pronouncements by health organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, which contends that cutting soda sales would help reduce obesity. According to the American Diabetic Association, just 40% of children's soft-drink consumption takes place at school.
Winning Combinations
Three years ago, Foodservice Director Enid Hohn took responsibility
for vending in the 27 schools of the Vista (Calif.) Unified School
District, determined to make a profit by selling healthful items.
With support from district administration, she bought 17 machines
and stocked them with bagels and cream cheese, shaker salads,
veggie packs with dressing, granola, muffins, low-fat milk and
yogurt, and beef jerky. In 2003, the district's gross revenue
from vending was $180,000 and profit was $39,000, approximately
the same as the previous year, explains Hohn. She says support
from the district's superintendent, students and foodservice workers
is vital to the program's success.
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Identifying new vending products is an ongoing pursuit. As many as 150 students participate in taste tests, and their opinions count, Hohn says. Her purchasing power and experience make her a smarter shopper and a valued customer to vendors. "Everyone wants my business," she says. "Bids come to me." Within three years, she increased commissions from 30% to 50%, with district foodservice keeping 50% of profits.
Foodservice revenues slipped when Jefferson County (Ky.) Public Schools removed high-calorie/high-sugar food in vending machines at its 44 schools. À la carte sales dropped from $27,430 a year to $17,235.
The loss hurt. It meant no new uniforms for foodservice, no renovation or new furniture for cafeterias. But the deficit eventually was offset by higher breakfast and lunch sales. "Kids didn't like what we offered [in vending], so they bought meals instead," says Cheryl Sturgeon, director of food and nutrition services. That added 7,700 more meals daily and contributed $90,000 in additional annual sales. Daily meal counts jumped from 83,335 to 87,324.
Sticking to more-healthful vending takes resolve and fortitude. "You can't serve 100,000 students without complaints," says Sturgeon, whose district includes Louisville. Students ignore such things as baked chips and pretzels, and miss soda, branded roast-beef sandwiches, pizza and cookies. "We knew we'd come under attack. But in the end we know we're doing the right thing."
The new food rules are nearing the end of a yearlong test, which completes in June. It requires huge effort from foodservice to study vendor proposals, products and labels to meet strict guidelines on percentages of fat and sugar. "Before the ban, vending was an on-site decision by each of the 44 schools. It always was an uncontrolled area," Sturgeon says. Everyone is determined to recoup losses, but she adds, "It will take time."
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Future Tastes
Paula Montgomery makes decisions for the future today. She uses
vending to influence youngsters' eating habits and to attract
community attention.
"Vending gets a bad rap," says the foodservice director of Fairborn (Ohio) City Schools. Last April, she invited the community and media to a party at Baker Junior High School to welcome a new $3,900 vending machine. Painted in a cow pattern, it is stocked with healthful items and is available all day to students, who are allowed to take items into classrooms.
"Middle school is the right time to teach healthful eating," she says. "Younger students are more open to influences than are teens." Students decorated halls with food posters, and lesson plans included teaching how to read nutrition labels and understand the different types of milk.
Parents also get involved, thanks to the debit-card system that students use. Parents are aware of whom is eating which of 30 items— including baked cheese chips, fortified doughnuts and cereals—and where the money goes. After eight months of operation, the machine had registered sales of $11,612.
Sphere of Influence
As foodservice director, Gayle Moran makes all decisions about
vending for 18 schools in the Troy (Mich.) School District, which
is in the middle of a 10-year contract with a beverage company.
"With a long contract, you build a relationship that's mutually
beneficial," says Moran. "It's not about getting the best bid."
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Annual vending revenue of approximately $163,000 goes for scholarships and athletic programs. "Vending doesn't have to be bad and banning it isn't necessary," says Moran. "Give students choices and education about why some foods are better than others," she says. Pricing noncarbonated drinks lower than carbonated drinks also helps, she suggests.
A liberal policy on vending variety plus restrictions on hours of operation is half the success of vending sales at Oak Park-River Forest (Ill.) High School. The other component is teaching the 3,000 students about healthy choices and exercise. Vending options run the gamut from soft drinks and candy to water, fresh fruit and baked chips in the school's 30 machines. Choices and hours of operation are set by Micheline Piekarski, director of foodservice. "Foodservice here is like a hotel. If you want food, you go through me. I supply everything, from catering to vending," says Piekarski. It means extra work for her staff, but she wanted the control and got it 13 years ago.
Piekarski's annual foodservice budget is $1.3 million. Profit from vending, 7%, goes to foodservice. Food cost on vending runs around 35%. "Tell suppliers what you want. You can increase variety and get the best price." Though she has the option to bid the account every five years, Piekarski will rebid once a year if a price seems too high.
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