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District reports small meal participation gains, new menus and rising food costs
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Summary
MMSD food-services staff reported modest increases in participation (about 1% breakfast, 2% lunch) and outlined menu development—plant-based options and new recipes—alongside rising commodity costs (beef up ~21%, poultry up ~9%). Staff credited a service "playbook," added targeted labor allocations and CEP expansions for improved access.
Madison Metropolitan School District food-services leaders told the operations work group they are seeing modest participation gains and rolling out new menu items while watching rising food prices that could affect the program's fiscal outlook.
Josh Perkins and Scott Chimp described an early-year increase across the district of roughly 1% in breakfast participation and 2% in lunches compared with the prior year. Kennedy, which joined the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) roster this year, showed larger gains: Perkins said Kennedy saw a roughly 27% jump in breakfast participation and a 17% increase in lunches after the CEP change.
Staff attributed part of the participation improvement to a standardized service playbook that establishes consistent service lines and a more orderly environment, and to reassigning existing labor to high-throughput times rather than adding net full-time equivalents. "We set up a second place to serve breakfast" at Kennedy to increase access, Perkins said.
Menu development emphasized broader appeal and more plant-based choices. Perkins highlighted new items such as hot-honey chicken thigh with smoky barbecue rice, butter chicken with cilantro-lime rice, Chipotle chicken over rice, garlic-roasted tofu on golden rice, a plant-based Sloppy Joe and a meatless marinara penne. The district is also piloting garden-bar recipes from a Chef Anne capstone and using community sampling events to build trust with families.
Food costs were a concern: staff reported year-over-year commodity increases, with beef up about 21% and poultry almost 9%, and said they will continue close menu planning and maximize USDA-food allocations to manage the Fund 50 (food-service) fiscal position. An early fiscal update through September showed staff outperformed an expected transfer to the general fund last year and are tracking a similar pattern this year, while continuing to monitor reimbursement timing from DPI.
Staff encouraged parents to sign up for SchoolCafe alerts to receive menu-change notifications and emphasized that CEP status removes administrative and financial barriers to student access at participating schools.
Next step: food services will continue menu trials, promotion and the playbook rollout to additional schools and monitor food-price trends and reimbursements.
