Fast forward to the beginning of FY22 and at 62% staffing we struggled to feed students breakfast and lunch. However, we knew how important it was to continue producing items for our vending program. Losing the trust of our customers was something that we could not risk. Where previously, I would immediately get involved if I walked by and saw several holes without product, I had to lower my vending excellence expectations. March 2022 is the start of a brand new month and I am hoping for a turn towards our new normal. Staffing levels are stabilizing and the supply chain is producing products more consistently. We continue to focus on our vending program and know that we continue to serve our customers while they are on the go. What will the future of vending look like in Londonderry? Reimbursable breakfast and lunch machines? Maybe. We have unlocked the how. Now we wait to see what our needs are and how the automation of the cashier process will assist us in the future.
I was opening up a new line of business and this decreased annual financial burden definitely eased the approval process with my business administrator. My fully customized units were delivered in July and I had some student and staff free time to familiarize myself with the machine and its capabilities. Yes, I am a nerd and for months I focused on perfecting this program. I created standard operating procedures. I made waste spreadsheets. I checked and filled the machines with my staff and while in the high school hallways I peppered students with constant questions. We filled the machines and the students immediately emptied them. We filled them again and. . . well, you get the picture. It was insane! Dining on the go elevated our Dining Services breakfast and lunch service to a 24 hour-7 day a week food solution to our students and staff who spent an exponential amount of time on campus. The demand exceeded our ability to serve our students. It surpassed our wildest expectations and we immediately placed an order for two additional machines. We even hired a full time operator responsible for our vending operation. It became too much of a responsibility to be shared amongst our current labor. Long story short… This was a win in so many ways. I’ll sum it up in this way: • The machines paid for themselves within their first four operating months. At our height of efficiency, the high school machines regularly hit $1,000 in daily sales. • According to Venducation, in the beginning • of 2020 Londonderry High School held the number one spot for highest sales per student per day in the country. • FY20 saw profits from our vending program over $75,000. This new income astounded both our Business Administrator and School Board.
PROJECT VEND Innovative ways to
SIDEBAR TIP Walking through the lunchroom will provide you with key insight into your customer’s preferences, the societal and cultural trends, even the micro-societies of a lunch table. • A table of female athletes may pack their lunch from home. • The food culture of a student friend group/peers reflects their views on school lunch. Is it socially acceptable within their peer group to go through the lunch line? • Do our athletes believe that they can’t fuel their bodies appropriately with our lunches? If you want to know where your menu lacks, take a walk with a clipboard and make note of what students are packing from home. Are there ten kiddos with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Maybe it’s time to rethink your policy on peanuts. Can you add an IW sandwich which does not contaminate your kitchen with an allergen? The answer for Londonderry was, “Yes!” This year we have a safe alternative that students can count on in the off-chance that he or she dislikes the main hot entree. Uncrustable peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are a huge hit at all levels. We want students to enter the lunch line without the risk that they will go hungry because we ran out of pizza or subbed today’s entree due to product shortages. Increase Revenue, Feed More Kids, and Give the Students What They Want: Convenience. fresh fruit, yogurt parfaits and sandwiches. The prices those grocery stores were demanding (and actually selling) were outrageous but there was a market for it. Hey! We can do that too! So, we did. My first vending purchase was three machines which I purchased on a 5 year lease. This was a gamble!
It all started with a participation survey in 2017. I couldn’t figure it out. Why was our high school meal participation at 43%? When I went into the cafeteria and strolled amongst the tables, 3 out of 4 students had a lunch tray in front of them. The math didn’t make sense. Our survey conclusion was that the majority of our students who came to the cafeteria ate with us, astonishingly at approximately double the rate of all school participation which we saw tabulated on those end of day reports. We discovered a multitude of factors which contributed to this discrepancy. The greatest of these being that students were spending their lunch time outside of the cafeteria whether it be by adding an additional class to their schedule, meeting with a teacher or group, or simply spending time in the band room practicing on their instrument. Regardless of their activity it precluded them from entering the lunch line, choosing to spend their time in an academic, athletic, or extra-curricular pursuit. We needed to have additional, convenient, points of service throughout our high school location meeting the nutritional needs and time constraints of our customers. At then 12% free and reduced lunch, we decided that providing a la carte vending was just the ticket to serving our students. Grocery stores were just entering the world of grab and go convenience items such as individual servings of Director of Dining Services, Londonderry School District (NH) Amanda Venezia, MEd, SNS
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final vending pro TIPs
https://vimeo. com/683588158/ caadc5ce7a
https://vimeo. com/683980328
Amanda has been a restaurant and hospitality professional for over 15 years and is on her 10th year rocking school lunch as Director of Dining Services in Londonderry, New Hampshire. A wife, mom, and Vlogger, Amanda shares her passion for school nutrition speaking at national conferences and training professionals on front of the house and business operations but don’t discount her proficiency and creativity in the kitchen. Her love of social media marketing has put her small New England district on the map and she has won such awards as this year’s FoodService Director Magazine 2019 Rising Star. Amanda Venezia, MEd, SNS Director of Dining Services, Londonderry School District (NH) | NxtGen Network
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