Marketing
Develop marketing campaigns to communicate our products and services to stakeholders - Ongoing
October 12th – 16, 2015
"School Lunch Snapshot”
The National School Lunch Week theme for the 2015-2016 school year was “School Lunch Snapshot”, and was celebrated October 12-16, 2015. This year’s theme was all about snapping photos to showcase the beautiful, healthy meals served by the school food service staff to smiling students every day. Disposable cameras were given to school food service managers, who took pictures highlighting their own students enjoying the colorful, delicious food cooked in the school’s kitchen. Those pictures were then developed and displayed on a custom poster board to give everyone a “snapshot” of what school lunch is like in Palm Beach County. In addition, fun fruit smiles were given to students to encourage them to “keep their selfie healthy with school lunch”!
September 21-25, 2015
"School Breakfast is DINO-mite!"
September 15-18, 2015, was the inaugural Palm Beach County School Breakfast Week, a celebratory week for students in the district created to bring excitement and attention to the importance of school breakfast. This year’s theme was “School Breakfast is DINO-mite!" and students across the district enjoyed the fun dinosaur-themed décor and menu throughout the week.
Promotional kits were also distributed to schools and included a large poster, dinosaur “footprints”, tropical leaves, dinosaur figures, and other décor. In addition to the marketing kit, a themed menu with items such as prehistoric pancakes, T-rex-iffic toast, and Stegosaurus sausage biscuit were offered for breakfast during the week. A customized banner was displayed on our website and NutriSlice to help promote the week even more to parents and staff.
“Wake Up to School Breakfast!”
March 7-11 2016
During the week of March 7 – 11, cafeterias throughout Palm Beach County celebrated National School Breakfast Week. National School Breakfast Week was launched in 1989 to raise awareness of the availability of the School Breakfast Program to all children and to promote the links between eating a good breakfast, academic achievement, and healthy lifestyles. This year’s theme, “Wake Up to School Breakfast”, reminds the entire school community that school breakfast provides a healthy, energizing start to the day for students. A nutritious breakfast at the start of the day is one way to ensure students are getting the best education they can. National School Breakfast Week helps to educate parents and students about all the healthy and appealing choices offered at school daily by School Food Service.
In celebration of National School Breakfast Week, the School Food Service Department sent out promotional materials to Food Service Managers around the district. The marketing materials included aprons, flyers, balloons, activity sheets, and décor to get students excited to “Wake Up” their minds and bodies with breakfast.
Supper Program for 2015-2016 School Year
In the second year of the Afterschool Meals Program and additional 16 schools were added to the original 4 pilot schools from last year. The program, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture and administered by the Department of Health, Bureau of Child Care Food Programs, is designed to provide a nutritious meal to children in after school programs. It is available to school in which at least 50% of the enrolled children are eligible for free or reduced-price and where regularly scheduled educational or enrichment activities are structured and supervised.
At the beginning of the school year, new schools received training in program procedures and accountability procedures for compliance with state rules. The menu was revised from the previous year adding several sandwich offerings and yogurt and muffin platters which are popular with the students.
Developed various banners for the School Food Service website to market the following initiatives:
One of the most important achievements of any business is remarkable customer appreciation. Annually, we provide our school food service staff members with exiting opportunities to engage and thank our students; our valued customers. Below are just a few examples of our appreciation.
Entering kindergarten is an exciting time, but it can also be an emotional time for the students and parents. So elementary schools across the School District of Palm Beach County host Kindergarten Round Ups to welcome families to visit the campuses, get acquainted with their school and teachers, and get students and parents excited about all of the wonderful things that they have to look forward to as they approach this milestone.
During round ups, school administrators offer an orientation about the school, explain regulations such as dress codes, and provide information about activities on campus such as the School Food Service Program. School Food Service directly participates and provides marketing material to share the details of our program to include:
- Kindergarten Round Up flyer for parents in English, Spanish, Creole and Portuguese
- My plate poster
- Apply Online for Free and Reduced Meal Benefits poster
- Sign Up Online to Receive Our Booklet poster
- Kindergarten round up business cards with link to sign up form
- Free and Reduced business cards
- Checkered Napkins for table Decoration
- Pencils for students
- Coloring Sheets
- Small pack of Crayons
Annually, the School Food Service Department provides each student's household with information regarding the services we offer. Inside the pages of the booklet you will find where to access menu and nutritional facts, what components make up a meal, a la carte offerings, special dietary needs, benefit enrollment information, and much more.
On May 6, 2016, School Food Service, school officials, students and parents from our communities recognized the hardworking professionals in our school cafeterias. Preparing healthy food for our students, adhering to strict nutrition standards, navigating student food allergies and offering service with a smile, makes it clear to see why school nutrition professionals are true everyday heroes!
The School District of Palm Beach County is very proud of the accomplishments made over the past few years and continues to lead the Garden Initiative Project.
School gardens create opportunities for recreation, exercise, socialization, and education. Gardens produce nutritious food that can be shared with students to potentially reduce their families’ food budget. Gardening encourages self-reliance, stimulates social interaction, preserves green space, and beautifies neighborhoods. These projects increase access to healthy foods and active lifestyle opportunities for children and contribute to accomplishing the overarching goal. Educational opportunities to enhance math, science, language arts, health, and physical education through curriculums are available for the participating schools and after care programs.
Over the past six years, donations from the SFS garden totaled 621 pounds of fruits and vegetables.
In FY16 117 of our 184 schools districtwide reported having a garden on their school campus.
School Food Service updated the School Garden guide, developed a garden newsletter, and developed a garden web site to share resources and information with school administrators and teachers.
Pictured below are examples of our school and department gardens
Click to view The School Garden Development Guide
Branding is a "promise delivered". We make a promise to our customers with everything we do and, to be successful, we deliver on that promise. Within School Food Service our brand is "our everything" and we wear it proudly. Below are just a few of the branding concepts used to effectively showcase our program:
Palm Beach County is a rich agricultural community that creates an excellent opportunity to provide our students with locally grown produce. The practice of sourcing locally grown produce for use in school meals supports our initiatives to improve the nutritional integrity of school meals, increasing student consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.
