School nutrition staff are also unable to attend trainings, whether virtual or in-person, when there’s no other staff to cover their work. A respondent from the Mid-Atlantic region wrote, “[Choosing cheaper products] is still not enough savings to pay staff industry standards for scratch cooking to help with less processed menu items.” And another respondent from the Northeast region shared, “We have outsourced our food service operations to a FSMC [Food Service Management Company] because we do not have the staff to support all of the procurement requirements ourselves that we need to do to remain in compliance.” To alleviate some of the administrative and regulatory burden, as well as bidding and obtaining quotes, some respondents have turned to cooperative purchasing groups (co-ops) and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) (See Figure 2. Cooperatives, GPOs, and FSMCs). While respondents acknowledged that these approaches do save them time and paperwork, they find the food options from buying groups and co-ops limited and difficult to change—sometimes taking up to a year for order changes to take effect. One respondent from the Western region shared they received “[p]roducts that are lesser quality from [food distributor], since they are the only place we can get procurement without having to go out for bid.”
Figure 2. Cooperatives, GPOs, and FSMCs
Cooperative Purchasing Groups (Co-ops):
Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs):
Food Service Management Companies (FSMCs): for-profit or non-profit entities that provides a range of contracted meal services, ranging from management services, to staffing, to meals.
a collection of school districts that, by agreement, aggregate their procurement to increase their buying power and reduce their costs. They may be administered by a third party or member district.
third party entities, usually for-profit, that contract with manufacturers to procure a range of goods at negotiated prices for participating clients, including schools. A GPO may charge an annual fee or per unit fee.
Additionally, school nutrition staff reported that they are always looking for ways to reduce costs, including cutting staff hours, combining multiple roles into one job, making less food, offering lower quality food, and delaying procurement of new equipment or repair of aging equipment. Last-minute order changes due to supply chain disruptions and food availability require schools to make decisions abruptly, while they are already limited by staff shortages and budget constraints. As schools try to operate in this environment, they shared that their number one goal is to serve meals to students, but that they often run the risk of falling out of compliance—missing a form, not using the micro-purchase option correctly, etc.—while acting quickly to respond to order changes and substitutions. These conditions require nimbleness, flexibility, and sound judgment from school nutrition staff to respond to unforeseen shortages or substitutions and find an alternative solution swiftly so that school food operations are not disrupted and meals are available to students.
12 Procuring Good Food at School: From Contracts to Lunch Trays |
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