"This is a new approach to delivering pizza to schools, and we are extremely excited about the potential of Domino's Smart Slice," crows J. Patrick Doyle, Domino's Pizza president and chief executive officer. "We are pleased with the launch, and the feedback from school districts has been very positive — which makes us believe the upside is tremendous. We want to lead change in this area."
Indeed, pizza is kids' favorite food in the school lunch program. But don't be fooled by that "whole wheat" crust. Government regulations permit companies to label foods "whole grain" even when they contain only 51 percent of actual whole grain.
Jamie Oliver wants to cure U.S. schools of bad food, but schools in Los Angeles have said no thanks.
Oliver has moved to L.A. to film a new series for his television reality show, "Food Revolution." He was hoping to spend at least part of his time inside L.A. schools. But so far more than 75 school districts have closed their doors to his cameras.
To illustrate his plight, Oliver recently loaded a school bus with sand to represent the sugar L.A. kids are eating every year by drinking flavored milk. He spoke to a convention of food service workers, urging them to take up his cause with their local districts.
So far, no luck. Some are now wondering whether Oliver has taken things a bit too far. But we feel his pain. Most schools would much rather hide their meal program from public view, it's so rarely anything to brag about.
Speaking of lousy school food, we note that chicken nuggets will still be on school menus despite new meal service guidelines proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The guidelines call for more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, and less sodium in school food. But they do nothing to prevent giant food processing companies such as Tyson and Schwann Food from participating in the USDA program that allows schools to purchase commodity goods as frozen, processed foods.
The USDA says it wants school food to be fresher and less processed. That means companies that participate in the commodities diversion program will have to get creative. Sodium in school food will have to be cut by almost half within 10 years.
The USDA notes that Americans get most of their sodium from processed foods.
The Child Nutrition Act re-authorization recently enacted by Congress gives the USDA authority to regulate all foods sold in school--meaning a la carte lines, school stores and vending machines, in addition to the federally-subsidized meal line. Already, companies are pitching healthier vending machine snacks to schools.
Bloomberg News reports that Jeff Lowell, an assistant principal at Interlake High School in Bellevue, Wash., normally dismisses the e-mails he gets from businesses trying to sell to his 1,500 students. He was intrigued, however, by the pitch he received in September from Fresh Healthy Vending, a San Diego franchise operation that offers vending machines stocked with snacks and drinks it touts as alternatives to junk food.
"Everybody [understands] what eating right does for you and how much it ends up affecting your ability to think," Lowell says. "We decided we wanted to try it.
Lowell signed a one-year contract allowing Fresh Healthy to park its machines near Interlake's gym in exchange for 15 percent of profits. In late November, Fresh Healthy installed three machines, featuring goodies such as Kashi granola bars and Stonyfield Farm fruit smoothies, next to older machines that sell Powerade and Dasani water—though no soda—through a long-standing agreement with Coca-Cola Enterprises (KO). The top seller in the new machines so far: Pirate's Booty cheese puffs.
More than two dozen small companies are plying the healthier school vending machine market and are confident of getting a boost from the new law.
"I can't even tell you the response we're getting since this latest piece of legislation passed," says Fresh Healthy founder Jolly Backer, who launched the company in May to sell and supply franchises. He charges franchisees about $11,000 per machine, which they then manage, ordering from Fresh Healthy online and restocking once or twice a week. Fresh Healthy has machines in more than 2,000 locations, about three-quarters of them schools. "Our race is to get space," says Backer, 55.
"A lot of schools would just as soon get rid of vending programs because they haven't found out about healthy options yet." He expects revenue at the 22-employee company to at least double this year, to more than $10 million.
Finally, more schools are discovering the benefits of serving breakfast in the classroom. Walmart, which made news elsewhere this week by pledging to lower prices on vegetables and make prepared foods healthier, is helping five school districts around the country start breakfast in the classroom programs through with a $3 million pledge through the Walmart Foundation.
"Simply eating a
Indeed, in districts with high populations of low-income children, serving breakfast in the classroom earns lots of federal subsidy dollars that can stretch to help pay for better lunch as well.
When breakfast is served in the classroom instead of the cafeteria, participation typically skyrockets to near 100 percent.