CHANGING THE PERCEPTION OF CHILD NUTRITION PROGRAMS StandingOnBusiness #
W hen students enter our cafeterias we want them to fill their trays with healthy, delicious, and eye-catching foods. For this to become a reality, Child Nutrition programs must change the way we promote our meals, while encouraging students to fuel their bodies for learning success. In order to change the perception of Child Nutrition Programs, we must go back to the basic marketing practices. These include being intentional about the menu offerings, placement of food, involving the customer through taste tests, and promotional days to celebrate. School meals have a new look, and now is the time to recreate the public perception of your program. Let’s look at what I call the #FantasticFour ways to accomplish this. 1 Promote! Promote! Promote! I can’t emphasize this enough. Think of yourself as a walking billboard for your program! You’re the next best promoter of your program outside of students and parents. Get the word out about your program by ALWAYS sharing updates. No update is ever too big or small. From sharing new menu items or opportunities
for students to participate in, use newsletters, SOCIAL MEDIA (#1 tool used in marketing), and your district’s website to promote all the awesome things your program has to offer. Pictures are worth a thousand words. 2 Improve Food Presentation Presentation is everything! Create a tray display with the featured item. When presenting foods in your cafeteria lines, you must appeal to all five senses. Remember, we eat with our eyes first! Ask yourself these questions. Does the food look good? Is the aroma pleasing? Is the food the right texture or consistency? All of these things factor into the overall presentation and acceptability of your menu. 3 Get Input from Your Customers (The Students) Students are our best asset when deciding on what to put on the menu. You must involve students in the process of test tasting foods and allowing honest and immediate feedback. A good way to accomplish this is using QR codes or clubs such as student council. You can partner with vendors to host a sampling
of their products to your students. Also, recipe contests or samplings during lunch allows your students to see how the menu comes together. Lastly, getting feedback from the students encourages them to be supportive of your program and allows their voice to be heard. 4 Ask for Support You aren’t in this alone! When looking for ways to use a menu item or spice up your menu, use your resources. This includes vendors, neighboring districts, and all organizations who support Child Nutrition programs. Remember, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” Marketing isn’t a new concept within our world of Child Nutrition. Marketing, in every form, plays a significant role in how our programs are percieved by our students, parents, community, and other stakeholders. We must effectively utilize marketing to maximize reaching our students, resulting in having them dine with us whenever our cafeterias are open. We must be the biggest advocates to #StandOnBusiness and change the perception of Child Nutrition Programs.
Mary Ellen Gilliam, MBA, SNS | MSD Wayne Township, IN Mary Ellen Gilliam, MBA, SNS is the Assistant Director of Child Nutrition for MSD Wayne Township in Indianapolis, IN. She began her career in child nutrition as a dietitian and nutrition manager, in Georgia, before returning to her midwest roots. A proud #BoilerMaker, Mary Ellen earned her Bachelor Degrees in both Nutrition Science & Dietetics from Purdue University. She earned her Masters of Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University. Mary Ellen is the youngest of thirteen children. Child Nutrition for Mary Ellen is where Passion meets Purpose.
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