NJ Division of Food and Nutrition
has announced that they are dramatically changing the way school districts
contract with Food Management companies. The new method emphasizes cost over quality. For years, the NJ Business Administrators lobbied against
a USDA initiative that would have imposed this type of contracting and prevailed
but NJDA is now unilaterally requiring we abandon our current system. NJ Schools
are leaders in quality nutrition programs. A vast majority of the state uses Food
Service Management Companies and enjoy food service programs that operate at no
cost. The Business Administrator community was not consulted, so the Division
of Food and Nutrition could learn of our objectives for our schools and concerns
about the Fixed Cost method of
contracting.
The Fixed Cost contracting method has management companies being awarded
contracts based on a cost per meal. The current method has management companies
reimbursed for actual costs plus a fee for their service.
The concerns are:
The Loss of Flexibility
·
Any change a district requires could result in
the need to seek new proposals. This is costly, time consuming, and delays
implementation of projects the district wants.
For example
-
Change in lunch schedule
-
Addition of new services
-
Increasing number of cashiers, etc.
·
Food quality could suffer. Higher quality
ingredients result in a higher cost per meal.
·
Participation in lunch program can suffer. If
cost is the emphasis, and quality drops, the number of students dining in
school will decline.
·
Nutrition Initiatives that encourage students to
make healthy choices increase costs and may not be feasible due to the Fixed Cost.
Unintended Consequences
The Fixed Cost method rewards management companies when:
-
They work short staff
-
They use lower cost ingredients
-
They negotiate vendor rebates that they can
retain
Inflation in costs such as food and
labor may force the management company to compromise on quality to keep within
the proposed Fixed Cost.
NJ Schools want:
·
To choose a company that best addresses the
objectives of their community
·
To retain the flexibility we currently enjoy
·
Preserve our Quality Nutrition programs
Please pass the resolution
to support quality nutrition programs for New Jersey students.
