Wow…the places we went this year
Power Up With Breakfast…Spread the WORD!
Farm to School
We received donated "Farm to School Banners" from the FL Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Each School Food Service Manager was asked to work with school administration to determine the best location for the banners. Many banners can now be seen across the district on school fences marketing our commitment in working with local farmers to utilize locally grown produce in our program. A survey regarding the banner was sent to all School Food Service Managers and the result can be seen in the Survey document.
Additionally we received a variety of “Farm to School” posters which are displayed in all of the cafeterias in Palm Beach County.
And finally we promoted the "Farm to School" program at a Food Day Panel presentation at the Mounts Botanical Gardens on October 24, 2012. (Food Day Press Release)
Snack Pack
We are always looking for creative ways to serve more children. This year we piloted and later expanded a new marketing concept; the "Snack Pack". Beginning in July of 2012 we met with a Kellogg’s representative to discuss the “Snack Pack” promotion. We developed a “Snack Pack” menu, ordering guide and a marketing flyer. The program was designed as a grab and go concept with its own branded bag. The intent of the program was to capture those students who might be interested in an early morning snack instead of a traditional breakfast; possibly having eaten a breakfast already at home. We began to pilot this program in ten schools beginning October 1, 2012. The pilot was very successful with some schools seeing an increase of 600 meals per day. We expanded the program to all middle and high schools beginning January 8, 2013.
Next year we plan to continue to provide the “Snack Pack” as a special menu item at all middle and high schools and will look to expanding to various locations in the school to reach more students.
100th Day of School
Participating in promotions in the schools is another way we reached out to students this year. School Breakfast Week and the 100th Day of school were opportunities promoted from our central office for School Food Service Managers.
For both these promotions managers were solicited to participate. Those who chose to participate in the marketing were provided with a kit to include fun glasses and aprons for the staff, a marketing flyer for the serving line, activity sheets for teachers, and poster contest instructions.
In order to communicate our services to students, parents and school staff we applied resources this year to a marketing campaign. The campaign covered the areas of overall program marketing, Power Up with Breakfast, Kindergarten Roundup and our Summer Food Service Program.
To begin the year and to communicate our services to all students in Palm Beach County we mailed to every household with a registered student, a marketing flyer. This flyer covered various services to include our online application process, our meal prices, and our online meal payment system.
With the transition to offering free breakfast to all students in Palm Beach County for the 2012-2013 school year, we realized that spreading the word through marketing was essential to the success of the program. A bulletin and press release were developed to communicate this new opportunity to district staff and the community. The official launch of the program was on October 1, 2012 and prior to that date we provided each student with a Power Up with Breakfast flyer. Three flyers were developed to be attractive to our diverse student population. (Elementary, Secondary Girl, Secondary Boy) Flyers were provided to our managers at area meetings in a cloth reusable “Power Up With Breakfast” bag.
On October 1st, cashiers around the district donned their “Power Up With Breakfast” aprons and welcomed all students to a free breakfast. At FCAT test taking time we provided Power Up With Breakfast pencils to schools to share with those students taking the test. The marketing campaign for breakfast was very successful and we realized an increase in breakfast participation from 20% in 2012 to 23% in 2013; serving over an additional 790,000 breakfasts.
To further market our program and to reach new students for next year we developed a Kindergarten Roundup Kit to include; talking points for our School Food Service Managers, checkered napkins to decorate a table at Kindergarten Roundup night to highlight our fresh produce offered daily, marketing flyers detailing the services we provide, and signup sheets for additional information. The kits were utilized in 68 of our elementary schools to reach parents attending their kindergarten roundup meetings.
