SUCCESS IS MORE THAN A GOOD MENU

If you are reading this article, you likely work at a school that participates in the National School Breakfast or National School Lunch Program(s). Federal regulations prescribe the components and nutrient standards for the meals you serve. These regulations are the cornerstone with which you build menus. However, the actual menu is just the foundation of your child nutrition program. What occurs everyday in the kitchen, on the serving line, in the dining room, and throughout the school is what makes the program succeed.

There are many factors that influence a child’s decision to eat and enjoy the food served in their school cafeteria. Together these factors are called the total school environment. The sights, smells, sounds, and people create the atmosphere of the total school environment that surrounds students each day. This environment has a profound impact on their ideas of nutrition and the complete image of eating school lunch. One person cannot be responsible for all of these components, but the school nutrition manager in each school plays a critical role in controlling many of the factors. Each factor, if looked at exclusively, may not be enough to convince a child to eat, especially if all the other factors are neutral or negative. The cafeteria may be clean with many colorful decorations, but it takes more than an attractive and clean cafeteria to attract student customers. If the food does not look appealing or the teachers, administrators, and the parents are not supportive, the chances are less likely that the students will eat.

Sights begin at the cafeteria door. Is the cafeteria a place where the students look forward to spending part of their day? Is the serving line clean? Are the foods recognizable, colorful, and displayed attractively? A line of anxious students waiting to be served by smiling nutrition employees is another example combination of visual encouragement for other students to each school lunch.

Positive sounds also begin before reaching the cafeteria. Can positive sounds like laughing and excitement be heard? Or, is the air filled with forced silence, screams, or whistles? Negative sounds, like these, send a message to students that they should not enjoy their mealtime.

All senses are important, but the sense of smell can be one of the strongest persuasions to reach students' stomachs long before they enter the cafeteria. An inviting smell can lead the nose of a hungry student to the cafeteria in no time. Strong, objectionable smells can send a negative signal as well. The unappealing scent of burned food can turn a nose up and a student away from the cafeteria. Children do not relate too well to strong aromas.

Sight, sound, and smell are not the only important factors that make up the environment. People can be just as important. Anyone a student interacts with, inside or outside of school, has an impact on the environment of the school cafeteria. Parents and siblings at home, teachers in the classroom, an administrator in the hallway, a monitor in the cafeteria, or a friend at the table all have the capability of influencing a student’s opinion or desire to eat. If any of these influential people make a negative comment about eating the school meal, other positive factors could be wasted.

As the school nutrition manager you are in the best position to evaluate the school food environment. How can the atmosphere be controlled to result in a positive total school environment? First, foremost, and most importantly, each school nutrition manager must accept the role of being a leader.

• Be a Spark; make the changes or prompt others to create change.
• Be an Example; show others how to do it.
• Be a Resource; provide the knowledge, energy, and direction.
• Be a Visionary; create the goal of a positive total environment.
• Be an Expert; explore possibilities, identify solutions, and create successes.

Where do you begin? Start simple, work on those areas you have the most control over, like the smells and appearance of the food. Next, create a partnership by enlisting support from community leaders and parents. Ask them to assist you in convincing others in the community to help create and maintain a positive environment. Seek the support of those who are effected most, students, teachers, and administrators. You will create awareness with these groups by educating them on how the students will positively be affected by a successful school nutrition program.

How can you make these changes in your nutrition program? Work on one of these components of the school nutrition environment each day. Manage your partners to stay focused and energized. Above all, let the nutrition staff know how successful their efforts are. Work together as a team to make the total school environment strong and positive.

By Mark McGrath, Nutrition Education & Management Training Manager