District serves up healthy meals—and savings
CSBA partnership with U.S. Communities offers win-win for food programs and many other needs
Published: August 1, 2011
Providing tasty and nutritious meals that kids will eat is never easy, but the task becomes even more challenging when the budget is stretched thin.
The San Diego Unified School District tries to stay on the cutting edge in offering healthy, organic foods to the 130,000 students served meals in its cafeterias.
“The challenge, of course, is the cost,” said Eric Schoeppler, a senior buyer at the district. “We’re only given x-amount reimbursement from the federal government.”
To help meet its mission, the district is taking advantage of the national buying power of the food service contract with U.S. Communities. Premier Food Service Inc. was awarded the competitively bid contract, which provides for food service program solutions delivered in conjunction with U.S. Communities’ food service distributor, U.S. Foodservice. Premier is able to offer school districts a full array of offerings through U.S. Communities in a partnership with CSBA’s district services. With 183 sites full of hungry students, SDUSD put its food service contract out to bid; Premier/U.S. Foodservice—one of the newest members of the partnership’s purchasing alliance—came in more than $200,000 under the next-lowest bid, Schoeppler said.
The savings will help the district meet new nutrition standards for federal meal programs.
“We’re constantly facing more state and federal guidelines that we have to follow restricting us. But at the same time we want to offer the kids more choices,” SDUSD’s Schoeppler said. “It’s an amazing challenge, so it helps to have companies like Premier that have a vast array of products to choose from.”
Premier’s Web tool makes it easier to control inventory, create menus, find recipes and nutritional information, and seek help in troubleshooting operational challenges.
The purchasing alliance negotiates with more than 190 vendors and food service organizations nationwide to offer discounts of up to 20 percent on more than 32,000 products or services, including office furniture and machines, park and playground equipment, maintenance and hardware supplies, and a dozen or more other categories.
Learn how Premier and U.S. Communities can enhance your food service program on the CSBA website.