Falling into Foodservice 
By Isabella Cova

Going into the internship, I had a pretty good feeling that Foodservice was not for me, but then… I ended up at Parkway! As a 2012 Parkway North Alum, returning to the Parkway School District for a five-week rotation, sounded absolutely thrilling! Now having been there for three of those five weeks, I have realized that there was a LOT about the place that I called home for four years that I did not know about.

The First Day 

On my first day at Parkway, I visited 28 schools in the North and South region of the school district. That made for an impressive first day, not only because I had never been to 28 schools in a single day, but because each school was so different. I was blown away by the nurse at Oak Brook Elementary School, who was growing column gardens of lettuce in the school cafeteria. Each day she would talk to the children about the lettuce and harvest it in front of them. Upon harvesting, she would add the lettuce to the school salad bar and the outcome was incredible! Elementary school students were going up to the salad bar three times in a single lunch period to fill their plates with more salad. So, to all the doubters out there who believe that getting a child to eat something green is impossible...look no further than Parkway. As a Nutrition and Dietetics Intern and Graduate School Student, I have heard time and time again about the importance of Nutrition Education, but seeing the impacts first-hand inspired me to new limits. The same nurse at this Parkway Elementary School who had become a hero for the salad bar at her school, also became the champion of breakfast sales. After working on a grant to receive equipment and supplies to make smoothies for breakfast, this nurse increased her breakfast sales threefold. Anyone who works in Foodservice in a school district knows that increasing breakfast sales is extremely difficult because as data from surveys show, getting breakfast into children can be a struggle. However, students at Oak Brook were coming in every morning for their smoothies and they were loving them! To me, this was evidence that serving students healthy food does work and when done correctly, the students and school district both win.

Learning the Ropes in Production 

 Apart from visiting the elementary and middle schools, I have spent the majority of my time rotating between Parkway’s four high schools: North, South, Central and West. The high schools are unique in that they serve as the production centers for the entire district. Parkway’s Foodservice operates off of a satellite school system. As a Nutrition and Dietetics Major, I have learned about the four types of foodservice production systems (commissary, conventional, cook-chill and assembly serve), but now I got to see the commissary production style in action. This means, that not only do the high schools prepare food for all of their students, they also prepare lunch and breakfast for the schools in their region. The high schools are responsible for serving anywhere from ten to four satellite schools. This type of production system leads to busy mornings and busy afternoons. From a high school student’s perspective all looks calm, cool and collected from the front of the kitchen. However, behind the scenes, inside the kitchen, food is being rushed to the carriers for the middle and elementary schools, lists are being checked item by item, staff members are running around getting last minute items and the cardio workout for the morning has begun. In the afternoon, after all the schools have finished their lunch, the remaining food and all the dirty pans and utensils get delivered back to the high school and clean up begins.

Time for a Parkway Surprise 

Not only is it amazing to think about how many students the Parkway District feeds each day, but with such a large foodservice production also comes an incredible amount of food waste. Parkway repurposes their food waste by composting. Composting is an environmental friendly and sustainable way of recycling food back into nutrients that can fertilize the soil to grow new crops and plant life. After lunch, food that cannot be reused from the elementary and middle schools gets returned to the high school and all the food waste gets dumped into the yellow composting bins that gets taken to Blue Sky’s Recycling where the food waste is used within the community to grow new foods. Forecasting each days’ needs becomes essential in trying to minimize food waste and food cost. In attempts to control food waste, before composting is considered, the production manager assesses the returned food to evaluate whether or not the food can be repurposed into another meal. If the quality of the food would be compromised or the food does not meet: appearance, taste or temperature standards, food is then recycled into compost. Besides food waste, Parkway has moved to using compostable trays rather than the traditional Styrofoam ones. Signage all throughout the cafeterias at the schools aims to educate the students about which bin their trash can be thrown into to help Parkway in its sustainability efforts. The schools offer landfill options along with recycling and composting options.

Eye Opener…Foodservice is More Than Numbers

For anyone exploring a passion in Dietetics, let me tell you, Foodservice is more than numbers and foodservice math. When I was applying for internships, I was open minded, but pretty sure foodservice was not for me. I enjoyed wearing my white lab coat and being perceived by the general public as a physician. I loved talking to patients and feeling important with all the medical terminology. I thought working in foodservice would be a bunch of number crunching to calculate edible portions, cost per serving, figuring budgets and percent variance, but it was NOT. Foodservice is a lot of marketing and advertising to get students excited about the food being served. It is a lot of meetings with vendors, bidders, production staff, foodservice directors from other school districts, parents and students. It is a lot of communicating through meetings, emails, handouts, phone calls and interactions with students and administration. It is a lot of planning ahead to make sure menus make sense both logically and nutritionally and that floor plans for new kitchen areas and serving spaces flow properly. It is a lot of papers from inventory sheets, to production sheets to budget reports and financial reports from each facility. It is a LOT of work, but it is also a lot of FUN, especially, if you are someone who has a passion for education, people, the future, nutrition and food.

Last Thoughts 

I could go on and on about my experience at Parkway. I could brag about all the wonderful people I have met or all that I have learned about managing and working in the Food and Nutrition Services Department. This opportunity to work in the district that helped me to be where I am today, was humbling and nothing short of a sweet blessing. During my time here at Parkway, I have learned that Foodservice in schools is where preventative medicine occurs. Health is fostered by the school environment through teachers, nurses, foodservice staff, parents, administration, students, local organizations offering grants, local sustainability companies and ultimately everyone who recognizes the importance and power of food and nutrition. The cafeteria is the heart of the school because it brings students together, it nurtures students in more ways than one. Food is more than the nutrients it provides. As a girl with an endless passion for Education and Nutrition, I have learned that this is where it all begins and to a certain extent, this is where it all began for me five years ago.