With all of the rhetoric about school lunches going on, this could not be a better time to communicate with parents.
When I consult with organizations, I advise them to have an open dialogue with all stakeholders, especially parents. Parents are sometimes misinformed, or not informed at all, about what goes on in school cafeterias.
I remember one day during my team’s baseball practice I overheard some parents talking about how “unappealing” school lunches were (this is the PG version).
At this time in my career, I was pretty new to school foodservice so I had to stop practice and go over and have a dialogue with these parents. Being the new kid on the block, it was alarming to me how they viewed school lunches.
Then I thought about it for while and realized that much of the blame – for their negative views, rightly falls on school foodservice staff for not telling their story.
From that day on I refused to let someone else place a value on what we worked so hard for on a daily basis. Most parents have no idea that school foodservice is run independently of the school district. Here are a few tips you can utilize to keep your stakeholders “in the know”.
Tips to “Tell Your Story”:
1. Use Open House as an opportunity to showcase your meals and menus.
2. Utilize the school’s PTO and/or PTSA’s social media outlets (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.), to highlight your efforts and the success you are experiencing related to feeding students.
3. Get involved. Build credibility by partnering with the school administrative team.
I would love to hear what you are doing to “highlight your school foodservice program”. Sharing is caring!
