| Categories |
Adopt marketing techniques to promote healthful choices; Make more healthful foods and beverages available; Influence food and beverage contracts |
| Problem Overview |
- 25,000 students on the southern California coast, near San Diego
- 45 percent of students eligible for free and reduced-price school meals
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| Program/Activity Description |
The Vista Unified School District (VUSD) Child Nutrition Services (CNS) was looking for ways to recapture business that nutrition programs had lost over the years to multiple competitors, including vending companies and fundraising by campus groups. They also wanted to create a partnership with high school students who had come to view CNS as “the enemy.”
One of the main challenges was working with the district’s principals, who were very reluctant to change how they were doing business. They were accustomed to working with the bottling companies or outside third-party vendors. Because their bottom line was financial, CNS had to convince them that a partnership with the CNS department would be better for them. That meant designing contracts that read just like their current ones, only better. CNS offered a bigger signing bonus, an annual renewing bonus, and a higher commission. CNS agreed to be responsible for installing, operating, cleaning, and securing the machines and for handling refunds. The high school agreed to assign their security people the added duty of monitoring the machines to insure student access and report any problems or vandalism to CNS.
The machines were purchased and installed during the less busy summer school months. The distributor trained the CNS staff on the operation and repair of the machines. The machines were filled; announcements were made over the school's public speakers and in the daily bulletin—CNS was “in business.”
From the beginning of the CNS vending operation, the department received constant positive feedback with no complaints. There was so much business when the busy school year started that CNS was filling the machines three times per day.
Because the CNS vending operation is a partnership with the schools, even the custodial staff and campus security helped to make it a win-win venture. They knew that the school received money from another department within the district, and they did their part to help the program succeed.
The partnership with the school means that the machines are allowed to be open all day. The students can grab something nutritious before school, between classes, at nutrition break, at lunch, after school, and after practice. Adults attending night classes can access the machines before their classes begin.
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| Program/Activity Outcome |
- After a careful review of existing vending options, programs, and contracts, the VUSD CNS became the sole provider of vending services on the campus of Vista High School on July 1, 2001.
- CNS eliminated all candy and chips and replaced them with crackers, pretzels, granola bars, corn nuts, peanuts, dried apricots, and beef jerky. They also brought in food machines with new options: bagels with cream cheese, cereal and milk, yogurt and granola, fresh fruit salad, shaker salads, fresh veggies with light ranch dressing, whole fresh fruit, and muffins.
- Soft drink machines were removed and replaced with display beverage units featuring a variety of types of milk, four different types of 100% juice, smoothies, bottled water, sports drinks, and three types of soft drinks.
- In these beverage machines, milk, juice, and water were placed at eye level and sold for $1.00. Sports drinks and soft drinks were at the lower levels and sold for $1.25.
During the first year, only 12 percent of the beverage sales was from soft drinks; 68 percent from water and sports drinks; and 20 percent from milk and juice. Toward the end of the second year, the inventory of soft drinks was depleted and never replaced. There were very few student comments and few teacher complaints.
- Since CNS took control of the vending machines, students have access to healthier foods, and the school makes significantly more money than under contracts with vendors.
The school site (Vista High School) received over $20,000 in commissions and bonuses. This amount was more than double what the district had received in the previous year, before CNS took over the vending operation.
- In the first full year of business, the CNS vending operation grossed $187,000. As the department captured new business, sales in all other food service operations on the campus increased as well.
- During the second year of operation, the school site received over $25,000 in commissions and bonuses, and at the end of the 2003-2004 school year, it received over $31,000.
- As a result of making changes in the VUSD vending program, the nutrition integrity of the Child Nutrition Program has been restored. The long-range effect is that the students have healthier choices throughout their school days. Students who previously had made the choice not to eat all day and students who did not want to stand in long lunch lines are now eating. This change has contributed to their overall good health and readiness to learn.
- The initial investment made by CNS, mainly to obtain the vending machines, was approximately $100,000. It took the department only 30 months to recoup its initial investment.
- CNS recently moved vending machines into the middle schools through use of a third party supplier (products and machines are specified by CNS). Bottled water and milk have both been popular with the middle school students.
- At one middle school, CNS has converted an old cafeteria room to a fitness and nutrition center. The department purchased 12 stationary bikes and a dance machine. Students have access to the fitness equipment at breakfast and during lunch. The center has been very popular with both students and staff.
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| Story Highlights |
Keys to Success:
- Support: Without the wholehearted backing of the superintendent, this partnership would not have succeeded. The superintendent directed the secondary principals to work with the child nutrition department.
- Market research: Focus groups and student surveys with various student groups including athletes, club members, student leaders, and the vegetarian club
- Customer service: New attractive machines with a good selection of items, fair prices, and fast service
Future Plans:
- Work with software vendors to enable students who participate in the National School Lunch Program to access the vending machines for reimbursable meals.
- Develop a Fitness and Nutrition Center at two middle schools.
- Extend the Healthy Vending program to the other comprehensive high schools in the district. As a first step, CNS is already conducting focus groups and deciding on which machines to select.
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| Words of Wisdom |
"Remember the saying ‘If you can't beat em, join em?’ At Vista Unified School District we did just that, and we have created a successful partnership within our district community. Looking through the eyes of our competition, we thought how could we do this and do it bigger, better, and with more profits. How can we share the profits with the schools and offer better choices, better nutrition, and better prices?"
— Enid Hohn, Director of Child Nutrition Services |
| Program Contact |
Enid Hohn |