Please leave your comments on the current hot lunch program or the proposed vendor.
Note: this entry was edited for clarity on 26 March 2008.
View a Revolution Foods Sample Menu (pdf format)
Pros & Cons Current Program:
UPSIDES:
1. Creates Community, Fun: The Beach tradition of Friday Hot Lunch is a special treat – the highlight of the week for the kids and a break for the parents. There is nothing like a hot meal in the middle of the school day…
2. Fundraising: The BPO gets a substantial return on the volunteers’ efforts to help fund other BPO services.
3. One-time ordering for the entire year.
DOWNSIDES:
1. Limits Program to One Day a Week: Expanding the program would require many more parent volunteers. [1]
2. Difficulty recruiting volunteers to chair a hot lunch day: Without a legible protocol, it is difficult for newcomers to easily step in and know what to do. Limits participation.
3. Time and Labor Intensive:
a. Heavy load on committed few. You see many of the same faces on Hot Lunch that you see volunteering throughout the school. It is difficult to recruit enough volunteer to serve. Often the same people fill in over and over.
b. Administration and management tools aren’t in place, making administration scattered and difficult.
c. Creates volunteer burn-out and limits who can be involved.
4. Target of Complaints: Despite it being a volunteer effort, and because it deals with food and a Beach tradition, parents have high expectations surrounding menu choice, nutritional content and health & safety issues. The current program would required upgrades to keep up with bureaucratic state regulations governing nutritional values, public health or food safety.
Outsource Lunch Program to Revolution Foods:The following pages speak to why this would be the best option.
REVOLUTION FOODS PROS:
1. Multi-day: They offer lunch 3-5 days a week. A hot lunch program is convenient. For kids who stay at school for long hours it provides a healthy break in the middle of the day. Many families voiced a preference for more hot lunch days.
2. Progressive Business Model: Revolution Foods’ was founded by two UC Berkeley women to bring high quality food to low-income schools and do it as “sustainably and green” as possible. They source local where possible and have teamed up with Whole Foods to keep prices low. They hire real chefs and pay living wages with health benefits. They discount their food to Title One schools. Our support of them supports communities without our resources.
3. Good Food. We improve the nutritional value of our program. Revolution Food’s menu is kid friendly, yet not junk food. They use “Whole Foods” quality meats; they average 65% organic fruits and vegetables; and they don’t use trans-fats.
4. Professional Accountability: Complaints can be addressed by the company. Their business depends on their meeting the needs and desires of the BPO and the school as a whole. When volunteers cook for the school, in a sense, the complaints are a bit like “looking a gift horse in the mouth.”
5. Allows us to maintain compliance with bureaucratic state regulations governing nutritional values, public health and food safety
6. Fewer Volunteer Hours are needed. No preparation, no clean-up, no trips to Costco to buy plates. Everything is delivered. The time commitment would be about one hour; unless you want to hang out and chat. Each day would require 1 to 2 volunteer servers – adding up to 6 positions to fill each week. This is about the same amount as we need now, but it is spread over the week with less time per slot.
7. Flexibility and Streamlined Administration: Online ordering on a monthly basis. Don’t guess in June if your child wants Bagel Day in May. If you want 1 day this week and 2 days next week it is all fine.
8. Compostable Packaging! We potentially could co-ordinate with the Grounds & Garden committee to take a bit of this stuff into the garden. It also seems that the new city food scraps program could take this type of packaging. The current Hot Dog and Pizza days have relatively little packaging anyway, but we use a lot of aluminum pans, aluminum foil and paper plates on Chinese, Burrito, Pasta and Roast Chicken day.
9. Affordability: The cost per meal to the BPO would be about $3.25 if there are 100 or more orders, $3.50 a meal for fewer than 100. The BPO could keep the current price at $4.00 or possibly raise it to $4.25 if prices go up.
9. Potential for Fundraising Increased. Despite the lower margin of profit per lunch, there are more hot lunch days, so the potential for fundraising is still there.
10. It is Educative: Revolution Foods has an educational component to their service that will be available on-line for teachers, kids and parents.
11. Frees up Board Positions: Without having to be Chinese Day Chair, Bagel Day Chair, etc., etc., we would be free to volunteer for other positions in the school that are going unfilled! Hah!
CONS:
1. Potential Financial Hardship: Some parents have pointed out that offering more days would create a hardship those who can’t afford more days, because their children would feel left out or the parents would feel embarrassed to request a scholarship or they would find it difficult to turn their children down.
2. Base price of lunch is higher ($3.25 – $3.50) than our current program, though some of this will be offset by the increased number of lunches. To maintain revenues, the price per hot lunch could increase.
3. Loss of Informal Program: Some parents mourn that we’d be going to a food service. Although many of the Hot Lunch Days are catered by local restaurants and chains, there is something nice about the small scale of the effort.
OUTSTANDING ISSUES:
§ Fundraising & BPO Mission: Is school lunch the appropriate place to fundraise? What is the mission of the BPO and of the school. Should income from school lunches be earmarked for lunch scholarships, scholarships for educational programs like the Marin Headlands or should it be open for other programs as well.
BROADER BEACH PARTICIPATION: We need the Beach community to weigh in on the lunch program. Please read the Pros & Cons and leave a comment on the on this post; Come to the Revolution Tasting and discussion on April 7th; Answer the Hot Lunch Survey in April; Attend and vote at the BPO meeting on May 12th ! If you have questions please feel free to contact me: kimberly@mo-po.com. [i]
[1] On the Hot Lunch survey last year, 43 were in favor of more hot lunch days, only 15 were against.
[i] Thank you to the many and diverse BPO members, Hot Lunch chairs, volunteers, and parents who have shared their thoughts with me over the last 6 months. Thank you to Eliza Chin, Susan Miller and Teermatie Taylor for their help in getting me started this last month.
Posted by Len Gilbert 
Posted by Sherrie Jewett 
Posted by Len Gilbert 
