School is back in session, and with a new school year brings the pain of slow, long lunch lines. Students are back from the summer break. Some children are new to your district. Others moved from elementary to middle school, where the nutrition program operates differently.
Yet, one of the most common causes of slow lunch lines during the first few weeks of school is that children simply forget their ID numbers over the summer months. With kids having to remember strings of numbers that are 9, 10, 11 digits long, it’s not surprising that without regular use, children forget it.
Some of these lunch line bottlenecks will work themselves out within the first week or two of the fall semester once children get used to the system again.
Other slowdowns can present a more permanent problem for your school nutrition operation. Slows due to increasing student body size, larger numbers of kids taking advantage of free and reduced meals, and shorter lunch periods all present very real problems for a school food service operation.
Additionally, with the implementation of HHFKA, students are being presented healthier foods to eat during lunch. That is all well and good, except for one thing that administrators seem to overlook. Healthier foods take longer to eat!
I don’t know about you, but personally, it takes me way longer to bit my way through a whole apple than to finish a cup of applesauce. If I choose a salad as a side item instead of French fries, I know that the salad will take much longer to eat. It’s just the way it is. With healthier selections, the time to consume them (generally) increases.
School administrators are faced with mounting pressure to maximize instructional time so children can pass standardized tests. Often, the time allowed for recess and lunch are among the first areas that administrators look to shorten, so they can increase instructional time for students.
While administrators think that they’re doing what’s in the best interest of the students, we as school nutrition professionals see the situation differently. How can a student properly focus during their afternoon classes if they are rushed through lunch and only have time to eat half of their meal? How does a student retain what they’re learning when their stomach is rumbling from hunger a mere one hour after lunchtime?
Seat time during lunch is already at a premium. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends at least 20 minutes for students to eat their lunch. The problem is – that 20 minute clock doesn’t start until the student has walked to the cafeteria, gone through the lunch line, and sat down with their meal. How many of my readers feel like your nutrition program allows children at least 20 minutes to consume their food? My guess would be not many. It’s an unfortunate but growing reality in our industry.
Yet why are we finding ourselves with more mouths to feed and less time to do it in?
We can argue these points with our district administrators until the cows come home (can you tell I grew up in the South?), but let’s shift the focus onto things that we can control – like lunchroom organization and lunch line flow.
Disperse the Crowd with Mobile POS and Vending
One of the biggest turnoffs when walking into the cafeteria as a student is to see the giant mass of people surrounding the lunch line. Students see the long lines and immediately begin to question their options for lunch. Can they go off campus? Can they get by with a snack or two from a vending machine? What about skipping lunch all together because they would rather socialize with friends than wait in line?
Here are a few helpful suggestions on how to alleviate long lunch lines and keep the money flowing into your district’s school nutrition program.
Mobile Point-of-Service
As school food directors, we can find ways to disperse the lunch line rush and make it less overwhelming. By adding mobile service stations like this and this, you can create lunch on the other side of the cafeteria for students who know what they want, and don’t want to wait in the main lines. Great options for these mobile stations include easy grab-and-go items and specialty selections like a salad bar.
Healthy Express Line
Another great option is to create a “healthy express” line that only offers the most nutritious items of the day. A recent study found that by adding this express line to a cafeteria, sales of healthy items increased by 21% in just six short weeks. Your nutrition program is ever so slightly “nudging” students to choose the healthier option, because often that line is shorter and appeals to children who just want to get in and out quickly.
Vending Machines
Did you know that they now make refrigerated vending machines that can sync up with your point-of-service system and sell reimbursable meals to students… all without a cashier present? It’s pretty extraordinary technology, and can be a great addition to your nutrition operation. The money saved by not needing to pay an extra employee to staff that Point of Service location during every lunch period could be well worth the initial upfront investment of acquiring one of these vending machines.
How is your district working to combat long lunch lines? Do you have any tips that you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments section below!