School Nutrition Association • November/December 2022 • Beyond the Party Platter

As with just about every other aspect of K-12 school foodservice operations, catering programs vary widely and wildly. School nutrition departments in districts of similar size, demographics, budget and staffing may have catering programs that have nothing in common.

It might be a matter of philosophy, with one district simply not wanting to manage a for-profit business alongside a non-profit one or opting against competing with local businesses. A catering program might be championed by a school chef eager to break out from under meal pattern and portion control constrictions, or by a director who sees it as a natural extension of expert services to the school community. Programs might simply cover their costs and take the wins in the form of goodwill and gratitude or generate valuable revenues that help support a variety of initiatives, projects and upgrades.

No matter where your department falls on the school catering spectrum, you can benefit from the experiences of your peers around the country. You might be inspired to start a program, discover a solution to a nagging frustration or get ideas to take your program to the next level. School Nutrition reached out to four school nutrition directors who graciously agreed to sharing insights, metrics and menus. We’ve featured some of the highlights of those conversations in the following pages, with more headed for SchoolNutrition.org as bonus web content.

Mansfield Independent School District, Texas

We have a small catering division led by our culinary trainer and chef. We do small. We do large. We do informal. We do formal! Small catering requests might be for muffins in the teacher lounge or a fruit platter for an after-school PTA meeting. The larger events generally come around the end of the school year, although they can pop up any time. These include welcoming events and retirement parties for board members and administrators and might serve around 100 to 200 people. One of our largest events was a banquet for our top scholars, who brought family members and their favorite educator. We only cater inhouse school community events.

SN: What’s your top advice, whether from lessons learned the hard way or pleasant surprises?

Number one is to set high standards and expectations of your team. Presentation and quality are so important. Invest in the equipment and supplies you’ll need to meet these service goals. I think our presentations are second to none and these elevate the entire event.

We have buffet options for breakfast and lunch, along with boxed lunch options. Boxed salads have really taken off this year—it’s a trend we first noticed during COVID. When districts ordered these from area restaurants, we kind of perked up and said, “Well, we can do that, too.”

We are always paying attention to trends, following social media and getting ideas from the events we attend and eateries we go to. We’re a very foodie team. Right now, we’ve started eyeballing butter boards.

We also have desserts by the dozens and beverages, too. We offer several different coffee services. Plus, citrus water has been a forever favorite in our district—it’s just ice water with limes, oranges and lemons. It’s a beautiful presentation and has a perfect, refreshing taste.

One of our signature items is a deluxe yogurt parfait bar—we have a lot of fun with that one! Our most popular lunch buffet is our baked potato bar. We do a really nice chopped brisket with that and offer a beautiful salad. The potato bar suits just about any dietary needs, as it is easy to fill up on items while avoiding gluten or meat. We tend to recommend this if there’s going to be a large and diverse crowd attending the event.

SN: Setting aside COVID, how would you say your catering program has changed over the years?

It’s evolved in a very positive way. We are finding ourselves meeting client needs at a higher level, because we are happy to add personal touches. When we hired our district chef, the menu really went next level. One of her specialties is charcuterie tables. She created some of the most stunning displays, and these are an instant morale booster for everyone involved—from servers to organizers to guests.

We certainly try to accommodate custom requests. For example, last year a beloved school community member requested that we do a tea party theme. Our team went above and beyond to create that atmosphere. And when an area superintendent retired, we connected with her secretary to identify all of her favorite foods and snacks, which we used to create a personalized charcuterie-style table. We tell people that if they give us enough time and budget, we can make anything happen!

Alachua County Public Schools, Florida

We started it in SY2016-17 and hired a catering manager right from the beginning, who established policies, procedures and a standardized way to charge for meals. It’s really taken off since! Before this program, cafeteria managers in the schools would get individual requests for, say, spaghetti dinners for the football team or a cookie tray for a group meeting. But we didn’t have standard approaches or any consistency in presentation or food quality, which is why I wanted to bring it to the district level.

Today we cater a wide range of events, from teacher appreciation events to a robotics tournament with teams from all over the county. We also cater an all-employee health fair and a college and career fair. Last year, we catered an elegant holiday event for the superintendent. If you can dream it up, we can cater it. But it’s always a school district-related activity or something held on school property. We are strict about staying within those parameters.

We’ve been very successful for two primary reasons. One is because it’s reasonably priced. The other is because we do a really great job. We make it beautiful and surprise many people when they learn that the event is being catered by a school foodservice department.

Word of mouth is pretty strong—and that’s because we make such a good impression. I also will promote our services when it’s natural to do so. For example, I’ll go to a meeting with other department heads and it might come up casually that someone has an upcoming event and is trying to figure out what to serve. I’ll simply suggest: “Don’t forget about our catering department—we can help you out.” And just from my being in the right place at the right time, I might book several events.

SN: You have an impressive online catering booklet—it’s quite a bit more than a flyer or a brochure!

It’s really a flipbook of suggestions. We don’t lock into an official menu, and I think that has served us well. The customer can call us and explain their needs: “I’m having a morning event and I really want it to be a hearty breakfast. And we’ll say, “To us, that means eggs, bacon and sausage. Is that what you’re looking for?” “Yeah, that’s a great idea, but can you also put some fruit with that?” So, we’ll work together to develop the specific menu for their needs. Even with something like our standard taco bar, we’ll invite customers to personalize it by adding or subtracting something.

One thing that’s really great about our catering department is that almost all of the foods and ingredients are identical to what we use in our school cafeterias to serve breakfast, lunch, snack and supper. So, when people tell us how much they love the catered meal, we can tell them that it’s what we serve the kids in our school nutrition program. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to do catering in the first place. It’s another way to encourage people to take a second look at us and realize that school meals are delicious. It’s about changing our image.

Walpole Public Schools, Massachusetts

Our wellness policy mandates that there are no outside foods allowed in the schools, so we manage catering for school-based events. It might be coffee and desserts for a leadership meeting or a staff appreciation breakfast. We also cater a lot of holiday parties, including events with our students.

We’ll cater for a few community organizations that are partners outside of the district. For example, we do a periodic breakfast for our Council on Aging and we recently did a huge welcome back event for all the teachers in our Bi-County Collaborative. Sometimes a parent might call me up and make a request, and I’ll decide if it feels appropriate.

Our district is between 4,500 and 5,000 students. We centralized our high school kitchen a number of years ago, so all our school meals and all our catering comes out of that main kitchen. I don’t have a dedicated catering manager, but other staff will support me and fill in on an as-needed basis and be compensated for their extra work. I don’t advertise our service because we’re pretty taxed as a team right now. So, we keep our catering to those who know about us. Even then, sometimes I have to decline a request that seems like too much to take on right now.

SN: What are some of your typical menu offerings, and do you customize these at all or make regular changes?

I think our menu has enough variety that we don’t need to make many changes—and we can be broad in our definition. For example, for a continental breakfast, we might offer “assorted pastries” and we’ll work with the customer about what they might want and what we’re able to get within budget. We note on our order form that we take custom requests. We do a lot of luncheons, so we might use Boar’s Head cold cuts in an assortment of specialty wraps. Our executive luncheon platter and boxed lunches are super popular. We also offer a pizza party. But I think our club breakfast is most popular, because principals like having a hot breakfast!

SN: What’s your top advice to other directors who might be looking to start or expand a school catering program?

Get your team onboard and make sure they all understand the rationale for taking on this program. Point out the benefits that they will receive. They will gain more skills that they can take with them wherever they go and use for whatever they do. Catering also supplements the meal program, which will likely generate more hours and more employee positions. You also want to emphasize that it’s more opportunities for the school nutrition team to show the community who we are and what we do, gaining, perhaps, new respect and value.

After you have buy-in from your team, take care not to do too much too soon. Be strict about how much notice you will require for any orders, whether that’s one week or two. I’m really proud of our team’s ability to provide high-quality catering, especially when a lot of it is last minute—and we always do it with a smile.

Finally, if you are doing mostly administrative functions, consider branching out to take advantage of holiday opportunities. Maybe you can offer parents and staff the chance to buy holiday baked goods or even a whole turkey dinner!

North Colonie Central Schools, New York

SN: Please share an overview of your catering program and the types of events you take on.

It ranges from simple cookie and coffee services for meetings to luncheons for administrative retreats (on- and off- premise), plus catering for certain student activities, such as play performances. We’ve also catered graduation dinners for our eighth-graders and their families. It’s good to keep revenues in the district, but even more importantly, it gives us some clout. It shows that we are capable of more than chicken nuggets and have culinary skills. It’s become something of a business card for us, a great promotional tool.

In general, our menu is pretty standard. We try to create versatility. For example, we do a grilled chicken that is served with a big tossed salad and maybe some other side salad, mini rolls and different dressings and sauces. This creates a sandwich-salad bar, which is easy to offer, especially if you’re wondering if the guests include vegetarians and vegans. This is one lunch option we do often.

Another tactic that has been popular and effective is getting specific attendee orders for boxed lunches selected from different options. It’s great to have these ready and labeled with the attendee’s name.

Sometimes the superintendent holds an event where we want to show off a little bit. The last time, we did a burnt-butter ravioli with an applesauce glaze and a squash soup! We explore trending menu items, watching what’s happening at leading commercial foodservice operations like chain restaurants. Then, we may hop on their bandwagon, but make it our own—better and healthier.

SN: What advice do you have for other directors who may be looking to start or expand a catering program?

Start slow. Make sure the administration—whether your superintendent or other school business official—is on the same wavelength as to why you want to do this and why you want to keep the funds in the foodservice department. Then, start putting yourself out there. Tap your contacts in different schools and administrative departments. Remind them, “If you’re having a meeting and would like some refreshments, I could cater it for you. What do you need?” And be sure that when you present the food, you have a table sign that says: “Catered by District Name’s Food and Nutrition Services.”

Patricia L. Fitzgerald and Dylan Roche are, respectively, Editor and Contributing Editor for School Nutrition

For more catering program insights, including advice for overcoming common and unique challenges, check out this month’s online extras.