Concept Marketing Boosts Participation
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A Publication for School Foodservice Professionals Concept Marketing Boosts Participation IN THIS ISSUE Let’s say you and your spouse go out to dinner, and you order a chicken sandwich that comes with a side of french fries. “Can I get that with vegetables instead of french fries?” you ask the waitress. “No,” she says. “It’s served as is.” Concept Marketing Boosts Participation at’s a good way of introducing the notion of Concept Marketing to school foodservice directors. Concept Marketing is all about choices, yet it can be diffi cult for schools, which may move hundreds Recipe for Healthy of students through serving lines within a lunch period, to off er much in the way of choice. Kids Challenge— Unless, of course, something makes it easier for them. e Concept Marketing and Custom Concepts® Chicken Alfredo with programs from Gordon Food Service® do exactly that. It’s a collection of concepts—sandwiches, Italian, a Twist Asian, and Mexican—that come complete with menu ideas, layout suggestions, and marketing kits. You can choose exactly which elements to use in your operation and customize them to suit your needs. Did You Know? Many schools are on a four-week cycle menu, and it becomes routine for students and staff . Doing something diff erent every so often helps renew interest in school lunches, and the concepts, which are Nutrition News quick and easy to use, are designed to increase student excitement and participation. at’s certainly been the experience for many Gordon Food Service customers that implemented Concept Marketing this past spring. Building Burritos Builds Excitement at Jackson Local Schools It didn’t take a whole lot of convincing for Marsha Escola to agree to a “Build-Your-Own- Burrito Day” at Jackson High School, located in Ohio. After all, the Food Service Director for the Jackson Local Schools district has always pursued creative methods to boost student participation, from experimenting with new menu directions to hosting community breakfasts. What tipped the scales in favor of the burrito concept, says Escola, was a promise from her Gordon Food Service Customer Development Specialist to man the serving line alongside her staff . “My CDS told me, ‘Marsha, this is a really cool way to build excitement and participation. And I’ll be there to show you how it’s done.’ at sold me!” she laughs. Marsha Escola, Jackson High School's Foodservice AUGUST 2011 Continued on next page Director with her Gordon Food Servcie Customer Development Specialist, Ben Mullins. Gordon Food Service® School. “We did a Chipotle Day in June. Students could choose beef or chicken served in a traditional tortilla shell, along with cilantro rice and queso sauce. "Students could order lettuce, tomato, and fl ame-roasted corn as toppers. Mandarin oranges and milk were also served." “ e kids just loved everything about the event,” enthuses Escola. “And so did the teachers and staff . I had one secretary say she always brings her own lunch but she heard about Chipotle Day and decided to give it a try. She thought it was great.” e challenge, of course, is to harness that excitement and turn it into consistently higher participation. To that end, Escola is Burrito bar line-up. planning to incorporate regular Burrito Days and Chipotle Days at both the high school and middle school in the next school year. With six years in her current position and a total of 17 years in “I am not sure if this many choices would overwhelm younger foodservice, Escola is well aware that giving students more choices students in our elementary schools,” ponders Escola. “But I’d love helps build excitement. In fact, the Jackson High School cafeteria to do it once a month at the middle and high school,” says Escola. had been completely renovated in 2007 to allow just that. A “ e beauty of this program is that Gordon Food Service supplied quartet of specialty stations—main entrée, grill, pizza/pasta, everything. Now that we know how it works, and we already have and salad/deli—was developed to increase daily options and the promotional materials, it will be really easy to do it again.” facilitate self-selection. In addition, choice-enhancing concepts like “Create-Your-Own-Sub Days” and Baked Potato Bars are Escola believes it’s important to share news of these events with regular fi xtures on the high school menu. parents and taxpayers. “I want to advertise to the community as well as to students,” she says, to reinforce the quality image of the Small effort, big impact. foodservice program. Polar Bear Pride, a mini-magazine published Still, the concept for a burrito bar was a bit more elaborate for staff by the district and mailed to 21,000 area residents and business and students alike. Students were given a choice of three meats— owners, covered the previous events. “But I want to invite the beef, chicken, or shredded pork—plus cilantro rice and black beans. Jackson Suburbanite (local newspaper) and a local TV station to e meal was rounded out with peaches and milk. the next events.” Escola emphasized that the burrito choices had to be delivered in It’s quite likely the media will show up, according to Escola, a timely and effi cient way—with almost 1,800 students enrolled because the community is very supportive of the school district. in the high school, getting kids through serving lines quickly was a e district includes a high school, middle school, and four paramount concern. elementary schools serving about 5,700 students total. e Gordon Food Service Customer Development Specialist showed up early on the day of the event to give the staff Community support has helped the district some pointers. “We’d already received the suggested layout reach great heights. Newsweek magazine for the serving line,” Escola recalls. “And when he arrived has ranked Jackson High School among that morning, he demonstrated exactly how the process the top 5 percent of all U.S. high schools. would work and made everybody feel comfortable and Both Jackson High School and Lake confi dent. It all went smoothly after that.” Cable Elementary School are nationally recognized Blue Ribbon schools—a Escola reports that the student response was distinction earned by just 314 of the “absolutely tremendous.” Buzz had been building nation’s 120,000 public and private schools. for a week or two, thanks to posters and e district’s graduation rate is 99.8 percent promotional materials supplied by Gordon and more than 87 percent of students seek Food Service, and morning announcements higher education. touting the special day. “Burrito Day” was also included in the monthly menu “It’s a wonderful place to work,” published on the district website. says Escola. “My staff is fantastic. And I adore working “I heard nothing but positives from with Gordon Food Service. ey students, staff , and teachers,” relates have made so many things Escola. Participation spiked that day available to me that make my and the excitement carried on for some job easier—like these concepts. time. “It was a great success.” Success repeats itself. I really think they will boost our participation next year!” It was so successful that Escola decided to try another concept at Jackson Middle 2 What other schools are saying: Michigan. “We off ered more choices in the Parma City Schools high school than in the middle school, but “Wow, this is like Subway!” all the kids got really excited about it.” Jackie Rohr says she heard this from one Bock says she plans on continuing student after another when she and her the concepts into the new school year. staff hosted a “Build-Your-Own-Hoagie” “Especially the Asian Bar—we had great Day. Rohr is Foodservice Supervisor for participation for all the concepts, but Parma City Schools, a Cleveland, Ohio that was the best.” district that includes 19 schools and Plain Local Schools almost 12,000 students. Jennifer Rex, Child Nutrition Director for “We did it in May at Normandy High School,” Plain Local Schools, a 6,000-student district she recalls. “Students were off ered a choice in Canton, Ohio, introduced multiple Fast, Easy, and of buns, meats, cheese, and assorted veggies. concepts to her high school this spring. Product-wise, we didn’t order anything “We started the school year with an ethnic Cost-Effective other than what we normally do, other than station that alternated between Mexican and Asian. But everything was made up ahead of Here’s how you can get the most out pre-sliced buns, tomatoes, and onions. But of Concept Marketing: the staff was a little apprehensive because time, there were no custom choices.” we’ve never done this kind of set-up before. en Rex tried it the Gordon Food Service 1. Contact your Gordon Food How quickly could we move students way: “We did a Burrito Bar with a choice of Service Customer Development through when every one of them has to meats, sauces, guacamole, and cheese. Once Specialist to review your choices. make multiple choices?” Very quickly, as it we saw how easy that was, we did a Sub Bar Each of the four concepts off ers a turns out. “Maybe even more quickly than and then an Asian Bar. We didn’t do any great deal of menu fl exibility. Start our usual lunch line,” Rohr enthuses. Menus PR other than putting the concepts on the the planning process 4 to 8 weeks made students aware of the decisions they’d menu—but the response was great. We even before your fi rst event.