Boost Program Revenue with New Strategies Patti Bilbrey Director, Nutrition Services Scottsdale Unified School District

School Nutrition Industry Conference 2020 Boost Program Revenue with New Strategies Patti Bilbrey Director, Nutrition Services Scottsdale Unified School District

© Copyright 2019 | School Nutrition Association | Annual National Conference | July 14-16 | St. Louis, MO Ideas@Work education sessions are intended to inspire and encourage innovation in school nutrition through peer-to-peer learning and engagement.

• Patti Bilbrey • Director, Nutrition Services • Scottsdale Unified School District (Scottsdale, AZ) • SNA West Regional Director

• SUSD is under constant local media scrutiny Contract Meal K-12 Dsitrict • Very involved parents, community and 24,000 Students 23.7% Catering Operation stakeholders 29 SUSD Schools: Free and • Declining lunch times = declining 19 Elementary Reduced 43 sites outside 5 Middle SUSD served participation 5 High DAILY • Students have the means to utilize mobile delivery apps (Uber Eats, SY19 Programs $9M Total Revenue GrubHub, etc) $1.9M A la Carte NSLP • Diverse District with schools as high as $1.5M Contract Meals SBP (Reg, BIC and Free in Café) 77% F/R and as low as 3% F/R Paid out $1.1M in At-Risk After School Supper Indirect Costs After School Snack Program • Scottsdale Parent Nutrition Initiative $570K Profit Summer Food Service - Simplified • High degree of financial oversight with a highly detailed 50 page, site specific, profit and loss run monthly. • NS Staff Employee Bonus Program

© Copyright 2019 | School Nutrition Association | Annual National Conference | July 14-16 | St. Louis, MO The Big Idea • Grow/Boost Program Revenue • Challenge - With a low F/R percentage, declining enrollment, AZ increase in minimum wage and lunch hour changes outside our control, our team had to look for impactful ways to increase revenues that had a positive impact on the bottom line! • Opportunity/Solution – Made a team effort to make some small changes that resulted in not only positive changes, but also led to some unexpected BIG changes that elevated our revenues and snowballed our profits!

© Copyright 2019 | School Nutrition Association | Annual National Conference | July 14-16 | St. Louis, MO The Big Idea Have you considered? • Implementing BIC or Free Breakfast in the Café • Second Chance Breakfast/Nutrition Breaks/Reimbursable Vending • Summer Food Service – Go simplified rather than seamless and earn a higher reimbursement for very little extra paperwork • Provision 2 or CEP • Marketing • Pay for Performance Bonus Program (Yes, SUSD has one, but that’s a whole session in itself ☺) • A la Carte Sales • Are you Priced Right? • Cookie/Pizza Parties • Convert your After School Snacks to At-Risk After School Supper • Provide a Contracted Meal Service to other Schools/Community Programs

© Copyright 2019 | School Nutrition Association | Annual National Conference | July 14-16 | St. Louis, MO Planning A la Carte • It can be for EVERYONE…don’t underestimate these sales opportunities • Start small, maybe in only a single site, or go big! It all depends on your unique needs! • Tell your story on how the sales will be appropriate to your stakeholders needs and help IMPROVE your customers experience • Challenges of procurement, Smart Snack compliance, grade level sales and amount/variety available daily, parent perception (communicate, communicate, communicate!!) • Price it right! (Most items at SUSD have a max FC of 35%) • A la carte sales can bring strong profits with no material increase in labor

© Copyright 2019 | School Nutrition Association | Annual National Conference | July 14-16 | St. Louis, MO Implementation/Results – What? A la Carte • Near immediate implementation • Excel spreadsheet for ease of pricing, compliance, etc… (included in Meeting App) • We sell at all 29 schools and earn an additional $1.9M in revenue with and average profit margin of 70% = $1.3M profit • SUSD has many sites that have a large percentage of participation solely from the a la carte program • Meet SUSD Nutrition Initiative and Smart Snack guidelines

© Copyright 2019 | School Nutrition Association | Annual National Conference | July 14-16 | St. Louis, MO Planning/Implementation/Results Pizza, Cookie or Healthy Snack Parties • Market to school faculty and parents • Consider capturing the reimbursements for the pizza parties by adding fruit/veg and keeping a roster • Price it right! • Keep it simple, or make it fancy? • Determine if the sales potential is worth the investment of time. Districts may see great participation, while others may not. • Let’s talk this one out…

© Copyright 2019 | School Nutrition Association | Annual National Conference | July 14-16 | St. Louis, MO Planning Convert from After School Snacks to Supper • Convert in sites that meet the At-risk criteria of site or area eligibility • Must submit an application for CACFP At-Risk After School Meals • Will likely need to attend a CACFP Training • Don’t let the application process stop you…it’s easier now and well worth the added reimbursement • Gain permission for earlier feeding times, if needed…this can be done! • Menus will need to be developed, point of service thought out and recordkeeping worked out

Convert from After School Snacks to Supper • SUSD largely created a “Cold Supper Menu” plan (we do have a few hot meal sites) • Non Nutrition Services staff that served snack previously, still served the supper = No added labor! • Items loaded in a milk cooler that serves as the “line” with staff located at the end of the cooler verifying a meal was taken and marking roster • Roster left in pre-determined location for pick up the next day along with the removal of items not selected (OVS) • Meal identification is EASY by the way we organize our menu

© Copyright 2019 | School Nutrition Association | Annual National Conference | July 14-16 | St. Louis, MO Implementation Convert from After School Snacks to Supper • Items above the line packaged together as entrée and makes a reimbursable “meal”. Other items in milk crates and can be selected or declined, but “meal” must be taken COLD SUPPER MENU This institution is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Fat Free Flavored and 1% White milk offered daily

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

PB&J Uncrustable Soft Pretzel w/ Peanut Butter Ham & Cheese Croissant Cheese & Cracker Bistro Pack Any Timers Pepperoni Pizza Schoolboy Apple Raisins 100% Fruit Juice Craisins 100% Fruit Juice Kernel Corn Celery Sticks Broccoli Cucumber Slices Edamame Baby Carrots Baby Carrots Baby Carrots Baby Carrots Baby Carrots Milk Vriety Milk Variety Milk Variety Milk Variety Milk Variety

Grahamwich Snack Pack Yogurt and Fruit Parfait Any Timers Meat & Crackers ½ Turkey Sandwich Grab N’ Go (Cereal, Animal Cupped Fruit Raisins 100% Fruit Juice w/ WG Cheez-its Crackers, Peanut Butter, String Peas Cucumber Slices Edamame 100% Fruit Juice Cheese & Fruit) Baby Carrots Baby Carrots Baby Carrots Broccoli Celery Milk Variety Milk Variety Milk Variety Baby Carrots Baby Carrots Milk Variety Milk Variety

Reimbursment Rate: Snacks = $0.94 compared to Supper = $3.41

After School Snacks - 100/day = $94.00/day x 180 days….$16,920/yr At-Risk Suppers - 100/day = $340.00/day x 180 days……….$61,380/yr Revenue Increase………………………………………………………….$44,460/yr And this is for ONLY 100 Served per Day!

© Copyright 2019 | School Nutrition Association | Annual National Conference | July 14-16 | St. Louis, MO Results • No labor cost increase! • Food Cost Percentage remained the same • Students enjoyed the change as many eat lunch as early as 10:10 AM and are hungry by the time Supper is served in late afternoon • Surprised at the overall positive impact to our budget • Do need to have several cycle menus to rotate frequently as the cold menus can suffer menu fatigue quickly • Cold menu ideas are often limited…seek out ideas through crowdsourcing frequently! • Highly suggest Districts make this conversion to Supper as it’s a huge revenue boost

Proudly Serving our Community as

© Copyright 2019 | School Nutrition Association | Annual National Conference | July 14-16 | St. Louis, MO Planning Contract Meal Service Provided to other Schools/Community Programs • This can be as simple as to a preschool nearby, with simple planning, or it can BIG idea with BIG planning • SUSD went BIG and serves 6 customers that total 43 sites served outside our District DAILY! • Develop website and brochure and begin seeking customers • Routes were planned to maximize profits and minimize delivery times • Head Start, Charter Schools, Boys and Girls Clubs (Supper during the SY and then SFSP), etc… • Start small and pick up a customer that is close and with basic meal needs.

© Copyright 2019 | School Nutrition Association | Annual National Conference | July 14-16 | St. Louis, MO Planning Contract Meal Service Provided to other Schools/Community Programs • Will you be a sponsor or will you bill them for their meals? • What meals will you offer? • Develop a pricing proforma with all costs taken into consideration (labor, food and packaging, equipment, vehicles, will it have a waste factor, etc..) • Do you have enough physical space to produce? • Health code and permits • Make sure you have a contract in place with your customer that has had legal review • Does your State Agency need a copy of a contract or will it need an IGA/IAA

© Copyright 2019 | School Nutrition Association | Annual National Conference | July 14-16 | St. Louis, MO Results Contract Meal Service Provided to other Schools/Community Programs • This did not happen overnight and started over a decade ago • Results are nothing but upside if planned properly • SY18 revenue for our Oak Catering contract meal business = $1.4M with operating profits being just under $300K • Profits support our SUSD students with increases in food quality, cleaner ingredients and an even better overall experience • Half our business is now providing free Suppers to Boys and Girls Clubs all over the Metro Phoenix area (we sponsor, deliver and claim, but the site serves and counts) • Could easily double business if we had more physical capacity, which we are working on ☺

• Choose an EASY option to increase revenue first for immediate results!

• Be mindful that your expenses don’t suck up your hard earned revenue. It’s easy to make money, but it’s harder to turn money earned into profits!

• Crowd source social media, network, utilize SNA webinars/Learning Zone/Professional Development sessions for ideas and tools, ICN

• Use your SNA friends so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel

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