We're always looking for ways to increase student meal participation. So, what's one of the best ways to do it? Engagement! If you want more students to choose school meals, you should look for ways to interact with all of the students at your school, ask for their input and use it.
Here are four ways to engage with your students, get their opinion and show them that their opinion matters:
1. Get The Feedback
Give students a quick way to vote on a specific menu item while it's still fresh in their minds. A simple response can help you decide which items need a closer look.
- Voting slips: Include questions like, “Did you like "the chicken," yes or no?" or "Which item on your tray needed some help?"
- Rating charts or cups: List the featured menu item on a posterboard or bulletin board and let students choose where to put a sticker or what cup to put a token in. Was it a “Liked it,” “It was okay” or a “No thank you."
Another option is offering a more private voting alternative. Comment boxes, a Google doc or a QR code to an online survey are all great options that help students feel like they can say whatever they want to truly say and in their own time.
And don’t forget to look beyond participation numbers and check things like skipped sides and food waste, too. Pay attention to which items students pass over in the serving line and which foods regularly go into the trash uneaten or barely touched.
2. Get Them Talking More
Think beyond asking simply about this or that menu item. Try also asking broader questions like, “What do you enjoy about school breakfast/lunch?,” “What would make school breakfast/lunch better?” and/or “What keeps you from choosing school breakfast/lunch?”.
Here are some key questions you should think about asking:
- How often do you eat school breakfast? Every school day, three or four school days a week, one or two school days a week, rarely or never?
- How often do you eat school lunch? Every school day, three or four school days a week, one or two school days a week, rarely or never?
- How would you rate the flavor of school meals? Very good, good, okay, needs improvement or haven't tried them.
- Which school breakfast would you like served more often?
- Which school lunch would you like served more often?
- Which menu item would you change and how?
- What breakfast food would you like us to consider adding?
- Which lunch item would you like us to consider adding?
- Which drink would you like us to consider adding?
- What would improve your dining experience?
- If you don't choose to eat school breakfast or lunch, what is the main reason that you do not?
- What is your favorite menu item from your favorite restaurant?
Find a time during the school day where you can include students who never or rarely eat at school, as well. Their feedback is important, too, so you know the reason why and can perhaps fix it.
Make it clear that you are looking for honest answers...because you want to make meals they all want to eat and the cafeteria a place they all want to be...and offer incentives for students to respond, if possible.
3. Do Taste Tests First
Taste test new items before adding them to your menu. Set up an optional sample table outside the busiest serving area. Identify the food being evaluated. Ask students to rate the sample on a scale (very good, good, okay or not okay/not good) and respond on a piece of paper "yes" or "no" if they would choose it if it was offered.
Recruit a mix of students through school and classroom invitations, volunteers and student council or leadership groups to make sure as many people as possible know about it.
4. Follow Up & Follow Through
Tell students what you heard from their feedback, what you will be adding or changing and what cannot be added or changed right now. A cafeteria bulletin board and/or school announcement through approved channels (email, website, social media) are great ways to get the message out and make sure as many people hear it as possible.
TIP: Do you have a School Foodservice Social Channel? You should talk to your School Principal about getting one if not! We are seeing some great engagement and positivity coming from some that we have come across!
For the things that cannot be added or changed right now, as best as you can, try to explain the budget, equipment and/or nutrition constraints that don't make those changes possible.
After a change, compare meal participation and food waste on similar menu days, and keep getting feedback, too, so you know if what you're doing is working.
Looking for another way to engage your students? Click here to check out some FREE Healthy Choices Posters you can download and print for your cafeteria!
