Menu Development
Cycle Menu Planning
When we talk about changing from ready-to-heat foods to fresh foods in the context of menu planning, letting go of prior presumptions is important.
Does your high school menu always have the same five items daily, plus one daily special? Is the daily special the one meal that your team feels like they are “cooking from scratch,” but the students don’t select it as frequently as you’d like? This is a good example of how a new vision for the program can compete with the old. It is more difficult to develop students’ taste for fresh foods when their unhealthy habits are still being fulfilled.
Though we often hear, “I have a lot of XYZ in storage and need to use it up,” that strategy is usually a direct result of purchasing or allocating without menu planning and without reasonable forecasts paired to participation history. Some districts feel “lost” when they shift away from ready-to-heat foods and the core items that anchored their menu planning are no longer there.
Menu Development
Cycle Menu Planning
When we talk about changing from ready-to-heat foods to fresh foods in the context of menu planning, letting go of prior presumptions is important.
Does your high school menu always have the same five items daily, plus one daily special? Is the daily special the one meal that your team feels like they are “cooking from scratch,” but the students don’t select it as frequently as you’d like? This is a good example of how a new vision for the program can compete with the old. It is more difficult to develop students’ taste for fresh foods when their unhealthy habits are still being fulfilled.
Though we often hear, “I have a lot of XYZ in storage and need to use it up,” that strategy is usually a direct result of purchasing or allocating without menu planning and without reasonable forecasts paired to participation history. Some districts feel “lost” when they shift away from ready-to-heat foods and the core items that anchored their menu planning are no longer there.
Cycle Planning
Key Steps
Every school food professional has a favorite way of operating. As a nonprofit focused on healthier school food, our recommendations are based on our operational experience and assessments, but every district needs to determine what works for their own structure.
How many weeks?
For lunch, we recommend a six-week cycle. Regardless of the number of weeks in your district’s calendar, six weeks of menus gives the team a wide array of choices and frequencies without creating too many options. Six weeks also allows the months of the school year to vary, even though you know the underlying pattern. If you have an item that is a great seller, it’s easy to insert it as a three-week occurrence when you have a six-week menu. That said, there is no right or wrong cycle length, this is simply what we’ve found works well for districts that we’ve worked with, and many of our colleagues agree.
In general, we recommend even numbers. For breakfast, either in the cafeteria or breakfast in the classroom, two weeks is most common. For after school snack, we also recommend a two-week cycle. Though it’s common to see a four-week menu for breakfast, upon closer examination, these breakfast menus usually reflect a two-week influence. Supper meals are also becoming more common and generally the cycles are shorter, two or four weeks.
Cycle Planning
Key Steps
Every school food professional has a favorite way of operating. As a nonprofit focused on healthier school food, our recommendations are based on our operational experience and assessments, but every district needs to determine what works for their own structure.
How many weeks?
For lunch, we recommend a six-week cycle. Regardless of the number of weeks in your district’s calendar, six weeks of menus gives the team a wide array of choices and frequencies without creating too many options. Six weeks also allows the months of the school year to vary, even though you know the underlying pattern. If you have an item that is a great seller, it’s easy to insert it as a three-week occurrence when you have a six-week menu. That said, there is no right or wrong cycle length, this is simply what we’ve found works well for districts that we’ve worked with, and many of our colleagues agree.
In general, we recommend even numbers. For breakfast, either in the cafeteria or breakfast in the classroom, two weeks is most common. For after school snack, we also recommend a two-week cycle. Though it’s common to see a four-week menu for breakfast, upon closer examination, these breakfast menus usually reflect a two-week influence. Supper meals are also becoming more common and generally the cycles are shorter, two or four weeks.
Factors to Consider
The Entrées
Cycle patterns are typically developed around entrées, since entrée food and labor costs are the primary cost driver of the meal. Practical considerations for patterning entrée choices in scratch-cook menus include:
- When the key ingredients are delivered and/or need to be defrosted.
- How much time one entrée takes in production as compared to another.
- What day of the week the most popular item should be served.
- If your district is offering vegetarian options daily.
We also recommend the strategy of offering one district-wide main course daily across all age groups. This allows for more efficiency in procurement, by focusing a large percentage of ingredient procurement that will drive better pricing and easier inventory management.
Side Dishes
Side dishes are most regulated by meeting the sub groups on a daily basis. However, salad bars can provide flexibility and simplicity to meeting sub group requirements, as long as the additional labor costs are taken into consideration. Salad bars also help reduce the incidence of the typical vegetable staple of the hot line, while still allowing for the strategic placement of popular sides such as mashed potatoes. Aside from salad bars, side dishes are also a great opportunity to highlight and promote local foods. Harvest of the Month has become a very popular way for schools to market such options.
The Salad Bar
We recommend utilizing a salad bar as a daily part of your menu-planning structure. The Salad Bars section of The Lunch Box discusses the various options for incorporating salad bars as part of your menu.
The Simple Menu Cost Worksheet can be downloaded and edited further to meet your needs. This worksheet assumes that all five components are consumed—though we know that realistically served portions are less than that. From a budgeting perspective, this is a conservative approach, especially when rolling out new menus lacking historical serving data.
This worksheet also averages multiple main course costs. If you have production data and procurement history for previous menus, you can apply percentages of participation to each component as well as to the main course choices. Note: We do not recommend this approach unless you have enough experience and data to avoid underestimating food expenditures for the year.
The Simple Menu Cost Worksheet can be downloaded and edited further to meet your needs. This worksheet assumes that all five components are consumed—though we know that realistically served portions are less than that. From a budgeting perspective, this is a conservative approach, especially when rolling out new menus lacking historical serving data.
This worksheet also averages multiple main course costs. If you have production data and procurement history for previous menus, you can apply percentages of participation to each component as well as to the main course choices. Note: We do not recommend this approach unless you have enough experience and data to avoid underestimating food expenditures for the year.
Average Daily Participation (ADP)
By age group for the prior year and year-to-date. If projected enrollment and Free and Reduced percentages are expected to remain level, use the current year ADP.
Vendor Velocity Reports
From the prior full year and year-to-date for the current year. If you had significant item shifts or menu changes between the previous year and the current year, you will need to use the current year’s data and project usage based on year-to-date participation.
Current Inventory Detail & Inventory Movement Reports
Year-to-date (if you have the software).
Average Daily Participation (ADP)
By age group for the prior year and year-to-date. If projected enrollment and Free and Reduced percentages are expected to remain level, use the current year ADP.
Vendor Velocity Reports
From the prior full year and year-to-date for the current year. If you had significant item shifts or menu changes between the previous year and the current year, you will need to use the current year’s data and project usage based on year-to-date participation.
Current Inventory Detail & Inventory Movement Reports
Year-to-date (if you have the software).
Commodity Reports
From prior year and year-to-date for both USDA Foods and pass-through commodity items. For USDA Food program records, obtain an RA Entitlement/Bonus Detail Report from WBSCM, or from your state authority if your state does not use WBSCM. This report will reflect all activity, including which bulk commodities were allocated to pass-through. You can also request a Received RA Report, which is often requested by business managers at the end of the year.
For pass-through items, the detailed records of your allocation are typically recorded through website tracking sites like Processor Link or K12Foodservice.com, depending on the manufacturer/processor. These reports will reflect the flow of the commodity and what product it was manufactured into. Remaining balances from pass-through commodities (unused or roll-over) are particularly important when planning for the following year. Each state is slightly different with regard to USDA commodities, so when in doubt, contact your state for assistance in accessing your information.
Production Record Audit
Data on the current menu cycle. Presumably you will have some item overlap from the current year to the planned year. Use the serving data to make reasonable assumptions, which will drive the volume of ingredients. For example, in proteins (M/MA), the three biggest categories for volume are chicken, cheese, and beef, so depending on the top sellers and their cycle frequency, the volume of those ingredients will be the highest.
Commodity Reports
From prior year and year-to-date for both USDA Foods and pass-through commodity items. For USDA Food program records, obtain an RA Entitlement/Bonus Detail Report from WBSCM, or from your state authority if your state does not use WBSCM. This report will reflect all activity, including which bulk commodities were allocated to pass-through. You can also request a Received RA Report, which is often requested by business managers at the end of the year.
For pass-through items, the detailed records of your allocation are typically recorded through website tracking sites like Processor Link or K12Foodservice.com, depending on the manufacturer/processor. These reports will reflect the flow of the commodity and what product it was manufactured into. Remaining balances from pass-through commodities (unused or roll-over) are particularly important when planning for the following year. Each state is slightly different with regard to USDA commodities, so when in doubt, contact your state for assistance in accessing your information.
Production Record Audit
Data on the current menu cycle. Presumably you will have some item overlap from the current year to the planned year. Use the serving data to make reasonable assumptions, which will drive the volume of ingredients. For example, in proteins (M/MA), the three biggest categories for volume are chicken, cheese, and beef, so depending on the top sellers and their cycle frequency, the volume of those ingredients will be the highest.
