Right now, schools are on tighter budgets than they ever have been in the past. Many educational institutions are having a difficult time making ends meet, but there is new equipment available that could help schools save money. In an era where every dollar counts, schools must make sure they do everything they can to reduce the cost of school lunches, and that means looking for opportunities to save money on labor.
It is critically important for schools to keep children fed during the school day. Countless families depend on those meals to help them make ends meet. Particularly with the cost of just about everything going up, parents rely on schools to provide their children with at least one, and sometimes too, school meals every day. That is where the National School Lunch Program has been beneficial. It is a program specifically designed to provide public and nonprofit private schools with access to low-cost or free meals that are nutritionally balanced and designed to support growing children.
According to statistics that have been published, as many as 11 million children live in homes where they might not know exactly where their next meal is going to come from. When parents know that their children will receive at least one meal every day at school, it can make it much easier for them to budget, ensuring their kids have the nutritional building blocks they need to grow and develop appropriately. Furthermore, when children have access to nutritious meals, they have more energy during the school day, which could improve their performance in the classroom.
Unfortunately, several challenges have developed in school kitchens during the past few years.
Staffing shortages have played a major role in the inability of schools to provide consistent, nutritionally-balanced meals to children at an affordable price. There are many reasons why schools are having a difficult time hiring people to work in the kitchen, and one reason is the tightening of school budgets all over the country.
Aging equipment is also playing a role. This ties into tightening budgets, as many schools do not have the funding necessary to purchase new equipment for the cafeteria. Older equipment makes it hard to produce nutritionally-balanced meals efficiently, which means there could be an inefficient use of labor, decreases in food quality, and increases in food waste.
One of the biggest causes of food waste is improper food storage, but schools can manage accurate cold food storage with the press of a button. In particular, Thermo-Kool has a walk-in monitor system, which makes it much easier for schools to keep inventory safe. This is a system that has both low and high alarms, which can let administrators and staff know when the temperature is departing the safe zone for food storage. Also, it makes maintenance related to the evaporator, discharge lines, cooling coils, and fluid levels easy to handle.
There are several reasons why Thermo-Kool has become the most trusted name in food preservation. With airtight doors, durable panel construction, a short learning curve, and unparalleled craftsmanship, Thermo-Kool walk-in coolers can help schools save money on inventory and labor, allowing schools to put affordable, nutritious meals on the table.
Using a blast chiller and shock freezer in your K-12 school cafeteria kitchen can help staff be more productive, saving time and money.
School cafeterias have different needs than traditional foodservice businesses. That includes the refrigeration and walk-ins they use.
Food waste numbers in schools are statistically sky-high, often resulting in such a large amount that it's difficult to keep up with and even harder...