Case Study
DISTRICT: Orange County (FL) Public Schools
DIRECTOR: Lora Gilbert, MS, RD
ENROLLMENT: 155,000 KITCHENS: 176
OCPS finished SY2002-2003 with a $5.7 million deficit
and without a director. The food service program was a centralized,
decentralized operation with each manager planning her/his own menus,
purchasing directly from companies without competitive bids, and
serving a low percent of the students.
Joseph Basgall, COO, took on this challenge in January
2003 by initiating a food bid and employing inTEAM Associates, Incorporated.
InTEAM was selected over four other companies because of their experience
in school foodservices. InTEAM’s principals, Dorothy Pannell
Martin and Gertrude Applebaum, performed a detailed program evaluation
and recommended 23 steps to correcting the problems. In August, Lora
Gilbert was employed as the program director and she has many plans
for building her staff and the program.
The inTEAM Food System was totally implemented by
OCPS in most schools beginning in August 2003 with a one-week menu
cycle for middle and high schools and a three-week menu cycle for
elementary schools. The food court concept has worked at the high
school beyond expectations. Those schools are now serving reimbursable,
nutritious lunches to more students. Training has been provided by
inTEAM Associates for managers and employees, which has been instrumental
to the success.
Food costs were reduced from $22.3 million in SY2002
(48.6% of sales) to $18.7 million in SY2003 (39.2% of sales) and
in September 2003 that cost was down to 32.7% of sales. The savings
so far on food alone has exceeded $4.4 million.
Labor costs decreased from 44.4% of sales to 42.1%
of sales in September 2003. No lay offs were necessary because the
participation was increasing to increase the productivity.
Participations in the breakfast and lunch programs
have increased tremendously. Some middle schools have double the
number they serve at lunch. The program is well on its way to becoming
a model for others.
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