Marketing Acceptance Write Up

8/16/2019 Marketing Acceptance Write Up

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Running head: SCHOOL LUNCH ACCEPTANCE AND MARKETING 1

School Lunch Marketing Plan

Group Members:

Susannah Brewton, Tarryn Hake, Sarah Nahum, Nelson Reames, Denielle Saitta, Alyssa

Schroeder, Alexandra Tracchio

Objective: Increase the number of students who participate in school lunch at Statesboro High

School by 5 percent within 3 weeks.

Target market: Statesboro High School students

Target market segmentation: demographic - grades 9-12 (ages 14-18); females & males;

African-Americans, Caucasians, Mexican Americans

Marketing mix:

Product: Statesboro High School school lunch and customer service

Place: Statesboro High School cafeteria

Price: School lunch costs $2.10; Reduced price school lunch costs $0.40

Labor: 13 cafeteria staff and school nutrition manager x 8 hours x pay

per hour

Supplies: Bulletin board costs $28.30; In-school TV announcement (slideshow) is

at no cost; Menu flyers and deli line labels cost $44.00

People: Statesboro High School cafeteria staff

Promotion: Marketing strategies are bulletin board, in-school TV announcement

(slideshow), and menu flyers and deli line labels. Please refer to separate

documents for descriptions of the marketing strategies.Physical evidence: Please refer to photos for physical evidence of the marketing

strategies.

Process:

Schedule Name &Description

SupportMaterials

People Duration Loc

Bulletin board

8/31-9/25 Eat Mor Deli, EatMor Skool Lunch;Draw attention toschool lunch participation inconcise message

30’’ x 56’’

white butcher paper

Green borders

Greenstenciled

AlexandraTracchio &AlyssaSchroeder

30 min (setup) &36 hrs(implementation)

Schlunare


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lettering

2 shadesgreen tissue paper

Black andred acrylic paint

In-schoolTVslideshow

8/31-9/25 KEEP CALM andDELI ON; Usecurrently trendingtheme in slideshow presentation toincrease

participation indeli line

TV monitorsin thecafeteria

6 slidePowerPoint

ad

NelsonReames &TarrynHake

5-10 min (setup) &36 hrs(implementation)

Schlunare

Menuflyers anddeli linelabels

8/31-9/25 LabelEnhancement andTableArrangements;Revamp currentdeli line with new product labels and“Blue Devil Deli”sign; Adddecoration toschool lunch areawith the table signs

Computer

Paper - 19sheets

Clear photoframes - 19

Small

chalkboard

White paintmarker

SusannahBrewton &DenielleSaitta

45 min (setup) &36 hrs(implementation)

Schlunare

Environmental Factors:

Competitive Forces - Fast food restaurants around Statesboro High School have low prices for

menu items

Regulatory Forces - School rules may impact marketing strategies due to where and when

implementation can occur

Political Forces - Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 led to new nutrition standards for NSLPmeaning healthier school lunch menu items are required

Economic Forces - Family income may impact students getting school lunch; School budget may

determine menu item availability

Legal Forces - How Statesboro High School school nutrition manager decides to incorporate the

new nutrition standards for NSLP


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Societal Forces - Students may be impacted by their peers’ choices. For example, if one student

tells his or her group that the school lunch is nasty and they should not eat it, everyone in the

group will be impacted by this statement. They could possibly even choose not to eat school

lunch as a result of this meaningless statement. Additionally, societal forces have little impact on

the “place” of school lunch, since all students are typically required to report to the lunchroom

during lunch time, whether they partake in lunch from the cafeteria or not. However, some

schools may allow students to leave the campus during lunch time. Factors affecting

participation in the school lunch program may include distance from fast food restaurants and

distance from convenient stores.

Technological Forces - Students may only respond to marketing strategies that use social media

and televisions

Challenges: Possible challenges that may occur during implementation include lack of

participation from students and ridicule from students, teachers, and staff.


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School Lunch Acceptance Study and Marketing Plan Project:

Section 5

Statesboro High School

Susannah Brewton, Tarryn Hake, Sarah Nahum, Nelson Reames,

Denielle Saitta, Alyssa Schroeder, Alexandra Tracchio

Georgia Southern University


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School Lunch Acceptance Study and Marketing Plan Section 5

In the following paragraphs, we will first summarize the current research about the

quality, participation, and perceptions of school lunches and the current research about marketing

efforts in school nutrition programs. Next, we will describe the processes of collecting

participation, plate waste, and perceptions of school lunch data, including a description of

challenges or issues that occurred during data collection. Additionally, we will analyze the

information that we learned from our observations, our conversations with the manager, Martha

White, and our data collection of participation, plate waste studies, and perception surveys.

Lastly, we will include the completed data collection tools used in our project.

Literature Review

There are many factors that come to play when children and adolescents decide on what

they will be eating for lunch, especially with the recent implementation of the new national

school lunch program. The following research summarizes the quality, participation, and

perceptions of school lunches before and after the implementation of the new national school

lunch program standards.

The first study was done on a large sample of school-age children to determine whether

or not the new school lunch standards made an impact on students’ selection and consumption of

foods. The background of this study was focused on the media and public outcry. The media and

public believed that the new changes to the school meal standards have led to a significant

increase in plate waste due to increased portion sizes and the requirement that each student

choose a fruit or vegetable (Cohen et al, 2014). The researchers described the intervention as the

implementation of the new school meal standards at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year.

To measure plate waste, they conducted a two day pre-implementation (before the new school


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meal standards) and a two day post-implementation (after the new school meal standards)

measurement of consumption using established plate waste study methods. The researchers

found that there was a 23 percent increase in fruit selection, although both entrée and vegetable

consumption remained the same as before the new standards. Also, the post-implementation

measurement showed entrée consumption increased by 15.6 percent, vegetable consumption

increased by 16.2 percent, but fruit consumption remained the same (Cohen et al, 2014). This

study showed that the new school lunch standards have had a positive impact on both

consumption and meal selection and have not led to increased plate waste. One limitation of this

study is that the researchers only studied low-income, urban school districts. They felt that there

is still a need to examine the impact this study has on higher-income school districts (Cohen et

al, 2014).

Another study focused on the nutrient content of meals served at school lunches before

and after the implementation of a nutrition intervention. This article focused on the increased

childhood obesity rates in the United States over the past 30 years, which were attributed to the

food environment (Cummings et al, 2014). This study implied that school nutrition plays a key

role in a child’s food environment and that the recently implemented school lunch program

standards may be able to help combat this national problem (Cummings et al, 2014). In this

study, the researchers compared the nutrient levels of school meals before and after nutrition

interventions at five school districts. They then compared the school menu changes to national

school menu regulations. Researchers found that in these five school districts, the menu changes

that were made resulted in a reduction of overall calories, sugar, and sodium content. The most

significant of these changes were observed during breakfast when there was a dramatic reduction

in sugar, total fat and sodium content of the meal (Cummings et al, 2014). One limitation of this


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study is that more research needs to be done to figure out the student selection and actual

consumption of these meals (Cummings et al, 2014).

The last study focused on the many barriers pertaining to participation in the National

School Lunch Program. When the National School Lunch Program was first implemented

in the San Francisco School District, there was a significant decrease in school lunch

participation (Bhatia et al, 2011). The objective of this study was to observe and discuss

competitive foods in the a la carte line and the impact the removal of these foods has on school

lunch participation. The researchers found that when a la carte items were removed, there was an

increase in the participation rates for the National School Lunch Program by an average of 23

percent (Bhatia et al, 2011). Some of the reasons that students did not participate in the National

School Lunch Program before the a la carte items were removed were due to perceptions that the

program was for poor children and that the identity of low-income students would be

compromised when participating in the program. This study showed that it is possible to improve

the participation rate in the National School Lunch Program for qualified students and to

successfully remove competitive foods (Bhatia et al, 2011). A limitation to the study was that the

researchers were not able to establish a specific cause of the increased participation; more

research should be done to establish these findings (Bhatia et al, 2011).

Discussion

These studies showed that the National School Lunch Program has positive and negative

implications when it comes to quality, participation, and perceptions of school lunches. They

showed that overall, the school lunch program is contributing to better nutrition. Additionally,

these studies showed that more work needs to be done on students’ perceptions of the National

School Lunch Program.


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Literature Review

Children and adolescents are exposed to multiple food messages daily through screen-

based media. According to Jones and colleagues, due to food advertisements, “children consume

an additional 122 kilocalories of sugar-sweetened beverages for each additional hour of

television they view, suggesting that marketing probably leads to increased consumption” (Jones

et al, 2012). Food advertisements contribute to the likelihood that children and adolescents

purchase more sugar-sweetened beverages if they are offered at point of sale.

One study focused on the negative influences the media has on adolescents’ food choices.

The purpose of this study was to report the association between eighth-grade students’ purchases

of sugar-sweetened beverages and snack foods and these two policy targets: screen-based media

(a proxy for exposure to food advertising) and school-level availability of sugar-sweetened

beverages and snack food (Jones et al, 2012). The students were asked what sugar-sweetened

beverages the school offered and how frequently they purchased them. Students were also asked

about how often they purchased sweet snacks. They answered based on three variables: never

purchase, purchase one to four times a week, or purchase one or more per day. Additionally,

adolescents were asked to write down how many hours they spend using various forms of

screen-based media during the week and on weekends. The results showed that the average

eighth-grade student spends a total of six and a half hours per day each week watching screen-

based media. “20.8 percent of students reported purchasing a sweetened beverage at school one

to four times in the past week and 38 percent of adolescents reported purchasing a snack one to

four times a week” (Jones et al, 2012). It has been observed in multiple studies that students and

administrators report differences in the availability of sugar-sweetened beverages and snack


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foods in schools. The results of this study were that there was a negative implication of screen-

based media on adolescents and their food choices at school.

Another study examined the efficacy of low-calorie foods offered in vending machines in

high schools in the Netherlands. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of three

strategies on the volume of sales from vending machines and on students’ product choices. The

strategies were: increasing the availability of low-calorie foods, labeling, and reducing prices for

lower calorie products (Kocken et al, 2012). The schools were randomly selected to an

experimental group or control group. There were a total of 13 experimental schools and 15

control schools. “The intervention consisted of three strategies that were introduced in school

vending machines in three successive 6-week phases” (Kocken et al, 2012). Phase I consisted of

increasing the availability of low-calorie products. In this phase, there were three groups: foods

containing empty calories, nutrient-rich foods, and beverages. Phase II focused on labeling the

products. There were colored labels and “thumbs up” pictures based off the product description.

There were three categories of labels: favorable, moderately unfavorable, and unfavorable. Phase

III focused on reducing the prices of low-calorie products. “In phase 3, the prices of favorable

and moderately unfavorable products were reduced by $0.10 per product, an average reduction

of 10%” (Kocken et al, 2012). Data of sales were recorded throughout the study. Results showed

that moderately unfavorable extra foods (100-170 kcals) were significantly higher in all phases

in the experimental group after implementation. During the last phase, when prices were

reduced, there was a significant increase in favorable beverages in the experimental groups.

“This study shows that changes to school vending machines increase students’ purchases of

lower-calorie foods” (Kocken et al, 2012). The researchers considered the possibility of students

having permission to leave school for lunch. They found that when students were given


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permission to leave, there was an effect on the intervention for sales of these low-calorie

products. It is important to keep adolescents on school grounds when there is a plethora of

unhealthy, competitive outside food companies. Kocken and colleagues (2012) stated that the

provision of more lower-calorie foods in the vending machine had a positive effect, also when it

was combined with labeling and reduced prices.

The last study observed the outside marketing strategies at local retail food stores and

their effect on children’s food choices. “The retail food store environment in the United States,

where major food and beverage companies spend ~$200M per year on marketing and

promotions, remains an understudied space” (Grisgby-Toussaint et al, 2011). The purpose of this

study was to assess food marketing strategies targeted to youth in convenience/corner and

grocery stores. There were two objectives of this study: (1) to examine the extent to which foods

marketed to youth on the Internet and television are also available and marketed in retail food

stores and (2) to determine whether differences exist in the amount of marketing observed across

store types and by neighborhood racial composition (Grigsby-Toussaint et al, 2011). The sample

consisted of 118 stores throughout four Midwestern cities in Illinois. Grigsby-Toussaint and

colleagues (2011) looked at 11 different categories for marketing strategies; the categories were:

breads and pastries, breakfast cereals, candy and gum, chips, cookies and crackers, dairy, fruit

and cereal bars, ice cream, non-carbonated drinks, prepared foods, and soda. The results showed

that there was the highest prevalence of available food items (87%) within convenient stores.

Soda had the highest food availability (92%) in the stores and ice cream had the lowest food

availability (62%) in the stores. Grocery stores had the highest average marketing to availability

ratio (57.5%). “Non-carbonated drinks [97.7%], fruit and cereal bars [76.9%], and soda [62.2%]

were the most likely to have some type of marketing technique across all stores” (Grigsby-


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Toussaint et al, 2011). The results showed that there is a strong influence on preferences of food

purchased due to the amount of marketing in retail food stores. Grigsby-Toussaint and colleagues

stated that children can be exposed to approximately 4,000 television advertisements for poor

nutritional foods per year. Retail food stores and school officials may reinforce preferences for

energy dense foods.

Discussion

Currently, there is no regulation on screen-based media marketing. In multiple studies,

the influence screen-based media has on adolescents is observed. Through changing the type of

advertisements adolescents are exposed to, childhood obesity may be prevented by marketing

healthy foods. The school health administration has a major influence on the food choices for

these adolescents. The school officials need to work with health professionals to increase the

lower-calorie foods in the school cafeteria, especially vending machines, and to limit the off-

campus privileges of high school students to eliminate the outside influence of competitive food

companies.

The Processes of Collecting Data and the Challenges Faced

Upon arrival to Statesboro High School the week of August 17, we checked in with the

school secretary and made our way to the school cafeteria. We introduced ourselves to the

lunchroom manager, Martha White, and explained to her, in detail, what our plans were. We

spoke with the assistant lunchroom manager as well, and he was able to give us more detailed

information about the lunch program, as Mrs. White was very busy with preparation.

The first item on our agenda was distributing the school lunch perception surveys. There

were two different surveys, one version for participants in school lunch and another for non-

participants in school lunch. We were concerned that the students would be unwilling to


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participate but realized quickly that the students were actually very eager to participate. Students

even began coming up to us, asking for surveys. Additionally, we found that many students

wanted to voice their opinions of school lunch. Many students had positive things to say

regarding school lunch. On the other hand, a number of students, mostly those bringing lunch

from home, had strong opposition to eating school lunch.

The plate waste studies, however, were quite difficult. Statesboro High School has four

lunch periods. During the first period, we made a plan to stand by the trashcans at the end of

lunch to determine plate waste as the students threw away their leftovers. This was nearly

impossible, as the process happened very quickly. Since the trays and utensils are disposable at

Statesboro High School, there is no tray return, which meant that we had less time to observe the

trays. After the first lunch, we realized that we needed to develop a more efficient plan of

conducting plate waste studies. The solution to our problem was to walk around the lunchroom at

the end of the lunch period before the bell rang and before students threw away their trays. We

determined plate waste at this time. Using this method, we were able to gather the majority of

our studies.

Analysis

Observations

While at Statesboro High School, we observed many factors that affected quality,

participation, and perceptions in the school lunch program.

Conversations with school cafeteria manager and assistant manager. The 2015-2016

school year lunch has tremendously improved as compared to last year. Average lunch

participation ranges between 700 - 900 students every day and total enrollment is approximately

1,058 students. The assistant manager, Gene, stated that this was due to a change in food quality


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and items now offered daily. This year, the department began ordering chicken breasts, which is

a better product than the chicken meat they were ordering. They also began offering personal pan

pizzas, Smart Mouth, everyday during the week. In the past, pizza was available for students two

days a week, Wednesday and Friday. Starting September 1st, pizzas will no longer be offered

every day for students. Instead, they will only be offered 3 days a week, Tuesday, Thursday, and

Friday. Since the pizza is so popular, the staff is making around 700 pizzas a day. This process is

very time consuming and requires too much work for the staff to handle along with preparing the

other entrees for the day.

School lunch from a student's perspective. From the students, we discovered while

some do like the lunch more as compared to last year, there are still many complaints about the

lunch. Students are a big fan of the personal pizza and enjoy having that option every day. Many

also said they like the dishes that are spicy or hot, like the new spicy chicken sandwiches.

However, others complained that the food was always cold and that there was only one beverage

option available for students, milk. Some suggested offering juice at lunch in addition to the

milk. Boys, particularly the athletes, also complained that they are not given enough food. Due to

the new nutrition standards and regulations, school lunch portions, quality, and items have

changed.

Free or Reduced Meals & Paid Meals. A full price student meal at Statesboro High

School is $2.10. This would be the price for those students who are not receiving free or reduced

meals. If a student is receiving reduced meals, their meal is $0.40. If a student is receiving free

meals they will pay nothing. At Statesboro High School, about 85 percent of students are

receiving free or reduced meals. New this year, breakfast is now available free to all students

regardless of their lunch eligibility. Last year, between 300 - 400 students participated in the


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breakfast program. Participation has started off slow this school year, but generally picks up

more during the course of the year.

Influences. There are many factors that influence the choices students make while in the

cafeteria. Some students are transitioning from middle school to high school and are enjoying the

abundant variety of entrees and sides available to them. If an adolescent is receiving free lunch

or if they are paying for their lunch, also influences them when in line. How a dish looks and

smells while on the serving line or on their plate is another large impact. Another influence may

be students’ peers as well as society. While observing at Statesboro High School, we noticed that

if a student purchased lunch, they typically sat among others who purchased school lunch also.

This was also noticed for those who would bring lunch from home. Other environmental factors

include the fast food restaurants that are around the school like Chick-fil-A and Starbucks.

However, students are not allowed to leave school for lunch unless they are part of the work

study program.

Menu. Statesboro High School follows a 5-week cycle menu. A cycle menu is a menu

that offers different food items every day and repeats itself after multiple days or weeks. When

and how often they repeat is at the discretion of the institution. The menu is available online for

students to view and see what will be served in the cafeteria. The menu is written by the director

of foodservice, Megan Blanchard. Megan is in charge of 14 schools.

Work schedules. In total, there are 14 employees in the school cafeteria, including the

manager. The breakfast staff comes in at 6:30 am to start breakfast for the students. At 7:00 am,

the remaining staff will come in to begin lunch preparation. However, some preparation work is

done the night before.


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Cooking methods. There are several different cooking methods employed at Statesboro

High School. The school has ovens, stoves, skillets and grills. The school has a hand slicer that

they use to cut the deli meat. Workstations are used throughout the kitchen for food preparation

and assembly, chopping and cutting different foods, or for keeping foods from cross

contamination. The most notable cooking method is the way the school makes the personal

pizzas. These pizzas are each individually prepared in their own pizza pan. First, the pizza pan is

sprayed with a non-stick spray to prevent the product from ruining and sticking to the pan. Next,

the pre-made and frozen pizza dough is placed into the pan. Red tomato pizza sauce is then

ladled onto the dough and spread to cover the entire surface. Cheese is then sprinkled on top of

the sauce and dough. Pepperoni is placed onto some of the pizzas. After the pizza is assembled,

the pan is placed on a conveyor belt where it moves food through the oven. About six pans at a

time can go through the oven. It takes about 4-6 minutes for the pizza to finish once on the belt.

Once the pizza is done, it is then removed from the belt and placed in a pizza box. These are then

held in the hot holding box until ready for student purchasing. With the large quantity of pizzas

being purchased, the kitchen staff is constantly making pizzas throughout the lunch period.

Holding temperatures. Temperatures we collected while at Statesboro High School

were all within the correct holding temperatures for food safety. The school also displayed a

temperature danger zone poster in the kitchen.

● Freezer temperature: 2 degrees

● Cooler temperature: 36 degrees

● Cold item: 15 degrees

● Hot items: 143, 150, 181, and 191 degrees


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Facility design. The facility design is basically set up as a typical foodservice

establishment. Sanitation, chemical storage, dry storage, employee belongings, and a bathroom

are all found in the back of house. The freezer, cooler, holding areas, prep tables, and a three-

compartment sink along the wall are all located in the front of house.

Food production flow & procedures. The staff members wear matching uniforms,

usually black pants and purple tops, each day. In regards to policies, Statesboro High School

lunchroom follows standard commercial kitchen policies. The food production flow is smooth

and orderly. Additionally, the staff is in charge of keeping a sample of each food served on hand

for seven days, in the event that a foodborne illness occurs. Standard sized pans and materials are

used. The lunchroom operates on an offer vs. serve basis, allowing students to decline some

items being served. Lastly, the trays and utensils are both disposable; the trays are Styrofoam,

utensils are plastic, and the deli uses red and white paper boat plates.

Serving lines. The foods served are portioned out prior to students entering the cafeteria.

There are three separate lunch lines; two of the lines are for hot foods and pizza, and the third

line is for the deli and salad bar. The deli offers various options of cold cuts, such as turkey, ham,

and roast beef, and most students preferred white bread instead of wheat. The salad bar offers a

number of toppings, and students are able to choose their own dressing using a squeeze bottle.

The older the students, the more they seem to go through this line. Students are only able to pick

up what is available at the specific line they choose. For example, bags of chips are offered in the

deli and salad bar line, but students who choose to have pizza cannot pick up a bag of chips.

These chips cannot be bought separately. Students must have at least one vegetable or fruit, and

they can pick up both if they choose. When a student chooses pizza, they do not get a tray, thus it


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is harder for them to pick up and hold other food items. There is line for paid beverages that are

not included in the lunch price. These beverages include lemonade, tea, and punch.

Sales. The top selling menu items include spicy chicken, pizza, cheeseburgers, chicken

tenders, chick-fil-a sandwiches, fries, and anything spicy. The lowest selling menu item is fish

sticks. According to the assistant manager, the students are not really big on tacos and fajitas

either, which is surprising.

Vending machines. There are various vending machines made available to students.

These machines offer items such as candy, baked desserts, chips, peanuts, trail mix, or granola

bars. Other machines offer drink options like diet sodas, water, or Powerade. While visiting the

school, we noticed that very few students purchased anything from the machines. There is also a

water and ice machine that students are able to use in the cafeteria.

Cafeteria. The cafeteria has bench seating, and students are able to sit anywhere they

choose. There is a nice outdoor area, but students are not allowed to leave the lunchroom and eat

outside. The volume level is medium, and students are able to move around. The cafeteria is very

clean and contains a few items of school spirit. However, there are no promotional items relating

to school lunch and healthy eating. Signs hang on the walls advertising Coca-Cola products

available for purchase. Televisions are mounted in several places around the cafeteria, but they

were all turned off except one. A microwave is available in the cafeteria for student use. Lastly,

administrators, teachers, and a police officer stand watch during the lunch periods.

Lunchtime procedure. Lunch starts at 11:15 a.m. and ends at 1:00 p.m. Students go to

lunch during their 4th block of the school day. There are four lunches, and each lunch is a 30-

minute period with a 5-minute break in between lunches. The number of students during each

lunch is as follows:


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1. Lunch Period #1: 200




Teachers’ Perceptions. It was observed that if a teacher is purchasing school lunch, they

typically go through the deli line where they get either a salad or sub sandwich. There were not

many teachers observed going through the lunch line. Many teachers voiced that they do not like

the school lunch because the lunch is only carbohydrates, make them gain weight, or is not good.

They want the old lunches back.

Kitchen Staff Perceptions. The kitchen staff shared that more students are coming

through the hot entree lines this year as compared to last year. They say that the students are

enjoying the pizzas offered every day as well as the new spicy dishes. They would like to see

more students going through the deli line, like they used to. When asked what foods they like,

they said it depended on the day. Barbecue chicken and spaghetti were their favorites. Their least

favorite were the tacos.

Production Records. Production records were not accessible at the time of our study but

will be provided to us as soon as they become available.

Summary of Plate Waste Studies

The plate waste studies conducted on August 19th showed the high school students

selected pizza the most of any menu item that day, and 90.323% of those students ate all of the

pizza. The menu items selected the least that day were salad, deli subs, and rolls. However, there

was no plate waste with the salad, and 90% of the students who selected a deli sub ate all of it.

There was a lot of plate waste when the rolls were selected.


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The plate waste studies conducted on August 20th showed the high school students


pizza. The menu items selected the least that day were deli subs, Sloppy Joes, and salad.

However, 84.211% of the students who selected a deli sub ate all of it, 78.947% of the students

who selected a Sloppy Joe ate all of it, and 58.333% of the students who selected a salad ate all

of it.

The plate waste studies conducted on August 21st showed the high school students


pizza. The menu items selected the least that day were chicken nuggets, rolls, fruits, salad, milk,

and deli subs. However, the following was observed: 75% of the students who selected chicken

nuggets ate all of them, 75% of the students who selected a salad did not eat any of it, and 75%

of the students who selected a deli sub ate all of it.

Summary of Perception Surveys

A total of 304 surveys were completed over the course of 12 lunch periods between

August 19 and August 21, 2015. There were two different surveys based upon school lunch

participation: Participant (School Lunch Experience) and Non-Participant ( Non-participant

Survey), which were given to the respective student population.

School Lunch Experience Survey. There were 156 students who participated in the

School Lunch Experience survey between Wednesday, August 19 and Friday, August 21. We

categorized the questions by perception of dining experience, cafeteria service and quality of

food items and meals (Table 1). Figure 1 shows the most frequent responses made by students.

After reviewing the School Lunch Experience surveys, the most indifferent (neither agreed nor

disagreed) perception of school lunch was the overall dining experience. Most students (31.16%)


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said they felt they could not offer suggestions for meal options. In addition, most students

responded they did not know what was being served prior to entering the cafeteria, however they

strongly agreed they could purchase a la carte menu items if they were not satisfied with entree

options. Most students agreed there was more than enough seating space in the cafeteria but were

indifferent about overall quality of dining experience.

Table 1

Category Question

Dining Experience 15. “I know that I can offer suggestions” 16. “There is enough seating space in the dining area” 18.”I know what is being served before I get to the

cafeteria” 19. “I can purchase other items (a la carte) if I don’t

want the full meal” 20. “I have enough time to eat” 24. “The overall quality of my dining experience is

good”

Cafeteria Service 2. “The staff understands my mealtime needs” 9. “The staff look like they enjoy their work” 14. “The service is friendly” 23. “The overall quality of the service is good”

Quality of Food Items(Based on freshness, taste, smell, flavor)

1. “The food served is fresh” 3. “ The food tastes good” 5. “The food smells good” 11. “The food looks appealing” 12. “Food is cooked to the proper doneness” 13. “The food has a homemade quality” 21. “The quality of the food is consistent”

22. “The overall quality (taste, appearance,

temperature) of the food served is good”

Satisfaction of Meals (Based on serving size, consistency, variety of healthyoptions, variety of menu item options)

4. “There is variety of food items that I can choosefrom” 6. “The menu provides healthy meal options” 7. “The amount of food I get is enough” 8. “The flavors of the food go well together” 10. “The variety of in the menu from day to day” 17. “The serving portions are consistent”


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Figure 1

The overall student perception of quality of service and staff was indifferent as well.

According to the surveys, most students perceived cafeteria staff to be friendly and looked as if

they enjoyed their job. However, the majority of students surveyed (24.68%) felt the staff did not

understand the mealtime needs of the students.

Students were also indifferent about the quality of the consistency in food and overall

quality of the food. The student perceptions of quality of the food served was indifferent for

freshness, taste, smell and the aesthetic looks. In addition, most students (33.56%) said the food

prepared did not have a “homemade quality”.


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Perception by students of meal satisfaction strongly agreed there was a variety of food to

choose from, and the menu provided healthy options. Most students (31.61%) also said the

amount of food served was not enough. Additionally, they felt that some menu items did not pair

well together and the serving sizes were inconsistent.

Non-Participant Survey. We had a total of 148 students, who do not participate in

school lunch, complete non-participating surveys. Section 1 of this survey is used to understand

the why the students do not eat school lunch. The majority of the students strongly agreed that

bringing their lunch was simply a personal or parental preference. 71% of students, who

completed this survey, strongly agreed on question 2 of the first portion stating, “I prefer to eat

what I bring from home.” The majority of students strongly agreed that the foods quality was

very low. Question 1 of the first portion stating, “The food does not taste good,” had 59% of

student in agreement and 28% neutral. Most of the students feel that the cafeteria staff are

friendly. Question 5 of section 1 stating, “The staff is not friendly,” had 48% of students

disagreeing, 28% neutral, and 24% in agreement with the statement. Question 23 stating, “I do

not get enough food”, had 48% agreeing and 23% neutral.

Section 2 of the survey is used to find out what might help students decide to eat school

lunch. Most students strongly agreed that they would be more likely to eat lunch if the quality,

service, and overall experience were better. Question 1 stating, “I would be more likely to eat

school lunches if the overall quality (taste, appearance, temperature) of the food served was

better”, had 77% of student in agreement. There were a variety of feelings about the service. In

question 4 stating, “I would be more likely to eat school lunches if the staff were friendlier” 48%

of students agreed, 33% disagreed, and 19% were neutral. Most students strongly agreed that the


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overall experience could be better. Question 13 stating, “I would be more likely to eat school

lunches if I received enough food to fill me up”, had 66% of student in agreement.


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Overall Perception of Marketing and Conclusion


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Overall, there were a lot of factors that impacted our research. One in particular was

marketing. Statesboro High School had little to no marketing around the school to promote

school lunch. To our understanding, the only way students knew what was going to be for lunch

that week was to check the school website; however, when accessing the school website and

searching for the lunch menu, it had not been recently updated. The current lunch menu shown is

from “January 2012.” The cafeteria where the students sit and eat lunch had no marketing of any

sort. The televisions in the cafeteria are used for daily announcements. The lunch lines where

students went through also had no decorations or marketing to increase the participation and

perception of school lunch. There were few decorations on the deli and salad line to try to

encourage the students to have a healthier option than the pizza every day. There was a crate at

the exit of every door for students to put their fruits and vegetables that they did not want before

they even sat down to eat. At the same time, other students were able to take those as extras.

Challenges of the Marketing Strategies. There were some challenges we were faced

with during this research. When we first got to the school, there was a negative perception

about school lunch. It was then our goal to change that perception so more students would want

to participate in school lunch. After we evaluated the data, we began to think of marketing

strategies that would support our hypothesis to increase school lunch participation. There were

still a few challenges we encountered when we went to the school to implement our marketing

strategies. We designed a bulletin board to gain the attention of the students with a message to

participate in school lunch. When we arrived to the school, there was limited space for us to hang

the bulletin board where the students will see the board on a daily basis. A major challenge we

faced was the menu changes. When we began the research in August, pizza was offered every

day and was the most popular menu item based on our data collection. Starting in September,


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however, pizza will only be offered three days a week. Our biggest challenge we faced as a

group was collecting the participation data. It was difficult to decipher who had already

completed a survey and which survey was completed. It is possible there were multiple students

who filled out surveys on consecutive days.

We overcame those challenges by creating marketing tools that will target our audience

in a creative way. We decided to create a chalkboard sign naming the deli line “Blue Devil Deli”

to encourage more students to go through that line on the days when pizza is not offered. We

were able to find a wall above the water and ice machine that was by the main cafeteria line. The

bulletin board is now in a place that will be easily seen by all students in the lunch room. We

overcame the marketing on the televisions by communicating with the AV manager to add a

slideshow that advertised school lunch. We were able to have those slides broadcasted on all the

televisions throughout the school as well as all the televisions in the lunch room.

Strengths of the Marketing Strategies. We believe our biggest strength was our

communication with each other as a group as well as with the school staff, including the kitchen

manager and AV manager. We were able to complete all areas of the research with minimal

complications. The kitchen staff was very helpful and we were able to establish a relationship

with them as well. The kitchen manager, Mrs. White, is very excited about our marketing

strategies to increase school lunch participation. We noticed there were post-it notes as labels on

the deli line. So, our group created eye-catching labels to display on the deli line. They were

placed in a location that was easily seen by the students in the lunch line. Overall, our marketing

strategies are strengths of our research. We created tools that will increase the school lunch

participation; we created a bulletin board, TV advertisements, food labels, and table-top flyers.

The marketing tools are placed in areas of the school and cafeteria where all students will easily


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be targeted. Our messages were written in a language that is relatable to this target audience. The

table-top flyers were placed on the lunch tables as well as by the cash registers.


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References

Bhatia, R., Jones, P., Reicker, Z. (2011). Competitive foods, discrimination, and

participation in the national school lunch program. American Journal of Public Health,

101(8), 1380-1386.

Cohen, J., Richardson, S., Parker, E., Catalano, P.J., Rimm, E.B. (2014). Impact

of the new U.S. Department of Agriculture school meal standards on food selection,

consumption, and waste. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 46 (4), 388-394.

Cummings, P.L., Welch, S.B., Mason, M., Burbage, L., Kwon, S., Kuo, T. (2014). Nutrient

content of school meals before and after implementation of nutrient recommendations in

five school districts across two U.S. counties. American Journal of Preventative

Medicine, 67 , S21-S27.

Grigsby-Toussaint, D.S., Moise, I.K., & Geiger, S.D. (2011). Observations of marketing

on food packaging targeted to youth in retail food stores. Obesity Journal, 19(9), 1898-

1900.

Jones, S., Chu, Y.H., Burke, M.P., Teixeira, A., Blake, C.E., & Frongillo, E.A. (2012). A

case for targeting marketing and availability in school food policy: adolescents’ food

purchases at school and exposure to television, internet, and video games. Journal of

Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, 7 , 1-10.

Kocken, P.L., Eeuwijk, J., van Kesteren, N.C., Dusseldorp, E., Buus, G., Bassa-Dafesh,

Z., & Snel, J. (2012). Promoting the purchase of low-calorie foods from school vending

machines: a cluster-randomized controlled study. Journal of School Health, 82(3), 115-

123.


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School Lunch Acceptance Study and Marketing Plan Project:

Sections 10-13

Statesboro High School

Susannah Brewton, Tarryn Hake, Sarah Nahum, Nelson Reames,

Denielle Saitta, Alyssa Schroeder, Alexandra Tracchio

Georgia Southern University

School Lunch Acceptance Study and Marketing Plan Sections 10-13


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In the following paragraphs, we will thoroughly describe the processes (who, what, when,

where, and how) of collecting participation, plate waste and perceptions of school lunch data.

Next, we will assess and summarize the results of our data collection from our participation,

plate waste studies and perceptions surveys. Additionally, we will compare and discuss our

results with the data we collected prior to the implementation of the marketing plan. We will

describe the conversation with Statesboro High’s manager, Ms. Martha White, as well as others

about the effectiveness of your marketing plan and implementation. Lastly, we will report our

assessment of the overall effectiveness of the marking plan and its implementation as well as its

impact on school lunch participation and student perceptions by describing strengths and

weaknesses and providing improvement suggestions.

Discussion on the Effectiveness of the Marketing and Implementation

On Monday, September 21, 2015, we returned to Statesboro High School to collect the

follow-up data. We discussed the marketing materials and their effectiveness with the school

nutrition manager. Martha White, the school nutrition manager of Statesboro High School, said

that our marketing materials made an impact on the students. As we were implementing the

materials, Martha White and her staff were very impressed with our ideas and were also very

excited to see the results. We discussed with Martha White her thoughts about the effectiveness

of our marketing material. She believed that our marketing materials were a success. She told us

there was an increase in school lunch participation along with students receiving healthier lunch

options, salads or deli sandwiches. One day, in particular, there were 289 students that went

through the deli and salad line instead of the pizza/entree line. There is a difference in

participation due to the change in the food menu; pizza used to be offered every day whereas

now it is only offered three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday). There is more of an


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increase in school lunch participation seen in the 9th graders. Martha White mentioned how she

would like to personally ask the students how they feel about school lunch and the menu. Her

position at this location cannot allow the time for that because there are too many students. The

school nutrition staff at Statesboro High School are learning how to reduce waste as well. They

are developing their menus to match the least popular items with pizza. They are able to better

predict what the students will eat. Martha White did not have many suggestions for

improvement.

Analysis of the Implementation

Description of process of implementation

The implementation of this project included the participation and ideas of all the group members

(Alex, Alyssa, Denielle, Nelson, Sarah, Susannah and Tarryn). The implementation began on

Monday, August 31, 2015 and was conducted at Statesboro High School. Our implementation

included a bulletin board, tabletop decorations, deli line decorations and a TV slideshow. As a

group, we brainstormed ideas that would be successful in increasing participation in school

lunch. We collectively decided on creating a bulletin board, tabletop decorations, deli line

decorations including new labels, and a school lunch themed slideshow. The bulletin board was

created and Alex and Alyssa implemented it. Alex and Alyssa spoke to Martha White, the

school nutrition manager, on Monday, August 31, 2015 about the best location for the bulletin

board. After careful consideration, Martha White decided that the bulletin board should be

placed on the wall above the ice maker because a lot of students would be able to see it there,

and the space was large enough to hold the bulletin board. Susannah and Denielle developed the

tabletop decorations and created new labels for the deli line and went to Statesboro High School

with Alex and Alyssa on Monday, August 31, 2015 to implement these marketing strategies.


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While Alex and Alyssa were implementing their marketing strategies, Susannah and Denielle

spoke with the school nutrition employees to create an appealing display on the deli line.

Susannah and Denielle also inserted the marketing flyers into plastic table toppers and placed

them on all the tables throughout the cafeteria. Susannah and Denielle spoke with the custodian,

Sam, about placing the table toppers on the tables every day before lunch. Lastly, Tarryn and

Nelson created three television advertisements to gain the interest of the students so that more

would participate in the school lunch program. Tarryn and Nelson developed a PowerPoint

presentation and uploaded it to a flashdrive. Tarryn and Nelson contacted the school AV center

to ask if the slideshow could be displayed on the televisions in the cafeteria along with the other

daily announcements. The school AV center approved the advertisements.

Challenges. As with any research study, there are challenges. We encountered a few

challenges when we went to the school. When we arrived, there was not a place where we could

hang our bulletin board in the cafeteria. We had to solve this problem with the guidance of

Martha White. Sam, the custodian, helped us to display the bulletin board. There were a few

complications when hanging the bulletin board including making sure that it would remain hung

for the duration of our marketing plan implementation. Another challenge we encountered was

displaying our tabletop decorations. We were told that at the end of every lunch, the tables were

closed and put up against the wall. The tabletop decorations would need to be taken down at the

end of each day and be placed on the tables each morning before lunch. We overcame this

challenge by having previously formed a relationship with Sam. He was happy to place the

tabletop decorations on the table every morning for us. When we went back to Statesboro High

School on September 21-23 to conduct the final portion of this study, we observed that all our

marketing materials were in the correct spots.


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Description of process of collecting data

Our group returned to Statesboro High School over the course of three days (September

21-23, 2015) to recollect school lunch participation data via surveys and to conduct plate waste

studies. Each day, we arrived early to speak with Martha White as well as to get prepared for the

students to begin lunch. Once students began to sit down for lunch, each of the interns split up to

collect participation data via surveys. There were two surveys, School Participation and Non-

Participant, that were given to the respective students to complete. As the lunches began to end

and the students were throwing out their trays, we positioned ourselves beside the trash cans to

complete the plate waste studies.

Challenges. There were some common challenges that occurred throughout all three

days. First, it was very difficult to mark each item per tray during the plate waste study because

the students were not in any organized line and multiple trays were thrown out at once. Second,

since the students were able to pick up anything in the line (ex: pizza and fruit) it was hard to

mark exactly what students were picking up in line. We revised our plan of action and instead of

standing at the trash cans, we walked around the lunchroom to observe finished trays. This also

proved challenging since students did not want us to look at their food trays. Collecting the

surveys was also challenging because many students were not interested in filling out another

survey, making the second and third days especially trying.

Assessment and summarization of data collection results

The plate waste studies conducted on September 21st showed the high school students

selected the chicken sandwich option over steak nuggets. Although, the numbers were very close

for both options. 75 percent of students who chose the chicken sandwich ate their entire

sandwich. 17.5 percent of students ate ¾ of their sandwich, and 7.5 percent of students ate only


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½. 56.25 percent of students who chose steak nuggets ate all of their nuggets. 25 percent of

students ate ¾ of the nuggets, 12.50 percent ate ½, and 6.25 percent ate only ¼. Of those students

who picked up a vegetable, 56.32 percent ate the entire amount given. 16.09 percent ate ¾ of

their vegetable portion, 14.94 percent ate ½, and 12.64 percent chose not to eat any of their

vegetables. Of those students who picked up fruit, 50 percent ate the entire portion given. 16.67

percent ate ¾, 13.64 percent ate ½, 1.52 percent ate ¼, and 18.18 percent did not consume any of

their fruit. In comparison to our previous studies, there was more participation in the deli line on

this day. This particular study on this specific day showed that the deli line had more

participation than the hot food line. Of those students who chose the deli line, 84.78 percent ate

their entire meal. Lastly, most students who had milk on their tray drank the entire carton.

The plate waste studies conducted on September 22nd showed that most students selected

pizza in comparison to the other menu items. Of those students, 84.30 percent consumed the

entire pizza. The other menu option this day was spaghetti, but very few students chose this over

pizza. Out of the students who chose spaghetti, 78.57 percent ate the entire portion given, 7.14

percent ate ¾, 8.93 percent ate ½, and 5.36 percent ate ¼. Of those students who had toast, 54.90

percent ate the entire slice. Of those students who picked up a vegetable, 43.28 percent ate the

entire amount given. 4.48 percent ate ¾ of their vegetable portion, 25.37 percent ate ½, and

25.37 percent chose not to eat any of their vegetables. Of those students who picked up fruit, 54

percent ate the entire portion given, 12 percent ate ¾, 12 percent ate ½, and 18 percent did not

eat any. Of the students who chose the deli line, 75.61 percent ate their entire meal. As for milk,

the majority of students drank their entire carton.

The plate waste studies conducted on September 23rd showed that the majority of

students chose the popcorn chicken option. Of those students, 90.36 percent ate the entire portion


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of chicken provided to them. The deli line participation was second to that of the popcorn

chicken participation. Out of the students who went through the deli line, 68.75 percent

consumed their entire meal. Of those students who had a roll, 47.50 percent did not consume a

single bite. On this particular day, two vegetable options, mashed potatoes and green beans, were

offered. Out of the students who picked up mashed potatoes, 55.93 percent ate all of them. Of

those students who picked up green beans, 65 percent ate all of them. Of those students who

picked up fruit, 35.38 percent ate the entire portion given, 13.85 percent ate ¾, 20 percent ate ½,

15.58 percent ate ¼, and 15.38 percent did not eat any. The majority of students who picked up

milk drank their entire carton.


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In this set of surveys we had a total of 156 students, who do not participate in school

lunch, complete non-participating surveys. Section 1 of this survey is used to understand why the

students do not eat school lunch. The majority of the students strongly agreed that bringing their

lunch was simply a personal or parental preference. 66% of students, who completed this survey,

strongly agreed on question 2 of the first portion stating, “I prefer to eat what I bring from

home.” The majority of students strongly agreed that the foods quality was very low however

our results are less compared to the last set of surveys. Question 1 of the first portion stating,

“The food does not taste good,” had 47% of student in agreement and 43% neutral. Question 5 of

section 1 stating, “The staff is not friendly,” had 43% of students disagreeing, 25% neutral, and

32% agreeing. Question 23 stating, “I do not get enough food”, had 53% agreeing and 29%

neutral.

Section 2 of the survey is used to find out what might help students decide to eat school

lunch. Most students strongly agreed that they would be more likely to eat lunch if the quality,

service, and overall experience were better. Question 1 stating, “I would be more likely to eat

school lunches if the overall quality (taste, appearance, temperature) of the food served was

better”, had 68% of students in agreement. There were a variety of feelings about the service. In

question 4 stating, “I would be more likely to eat school lunches if the staff were friendlier” 46%

of students agreed, 35% disagreed, and 19% were neutral. Most students strongly agreed that the


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overall experience could be better. Question 13 stating, “I would be more likely to eat school

lunches if I received enough food to fill me up”, had 63% of student in agreement.

Category: Non-Participating Question

Dining Experience 3. “The amount of food is inadequate”

4. “There are not enough seats in the dining area”

9. “The food I like runs out before I get to the

cafeteria”

10. “The food I like is gone before I get there”

11. “I need time to catch up on school work”

12. “I have to go to different lines to get the food I

want”

14. “The food choices do not change”

17. “ The choices offered are not those on the

menu”

19. “There are not enough places to sit”

21. “I am busy with school projects”

22. “The food does not look appealing”

23. “I do not get enough food”

24. “They run out of food”

26. “The cafeteria appears unclean”

Cafeteria Service 5. “The staff is not friendly”

15. “The staff does not speak to me”


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25. “The staff is not always present”

Quality of Food Items

(Based on freshness, taste,

smell, flavor)

1. “ The food does not taste good”

6. “ I do not like the food that is being served”

8. “ The food does not appear nutritious”

13. “I cannot recognize what the food is

16. “ The food does not look fresh”

18. “The food is not cooked correctly”

20. “ The food does not look healthy”

22. “The food does not look appealing”

27. “The overall food quality is poor”

Personal Preference 7. “I bring my own food”

9. “My parents purchase food for me to take to

school”


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The overall student perception of quality of service and staff was indifferent as well. According

to the surveys, most students perceived cafeteria staff to be friendly and looked as if they

enjoyed their job. However, the majority of students surveyed (40%) felt the staff did not

understand the mealtime needs of the students.

Students were also indifferent about the quality of the consistency in food and overall quality of

the food. The student perceptions of quality of the food served was indifferent for freshness,

taste, smell and the aesthetic looks. In addition, most students (44%) said the food prepared did

not have a “homemade quality”.

Perception by students of meal satisfaction strongly agreed there was a variety of food to choose

from, and the menu provided healthy options. Most students (46%) also said the amount of food

served was not enough. Additionally, they felt that some menu items did not pair well together

and the serving sizes were inconsistent.

Category Participating Question


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Dining Experience 15. “I know that I can offer suggestions”

16. “There is enough seating space in the

dining area”

18.”I know what is being served before I

get to the cafeteria”

19. “I can purchase other items (a la carte)

if I don’t want the full meal”

20. “I have enough time to eat”

24. “The overall quality of my dining

experience is good”

Cafeteria Service 2. “The staff understands my mealtime

needs”

9. “The staff look like they enjoy their

work”

14. “The service is friendly”

23. “The overall quality of the service is

good”

Quality of Food Items

(Based on freshness, taste, smell, flavor)

1. “The food served is fresh”

3. “ The food tastes good”

5. “The food smells good”

11. “The food looks appealing”


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12. “Food is cooked to the proper

doneness”

13. “The food has a homemade quality”

21. “The quality of the food is consistent”

22. “The overall quality (taste, appearance,

temperature) of the food served is good”

Satisfaction of Meals

(Based on serving size, consistency, variety of

healthy options, variety of menu item options)

4. “There is variety of food items that I can

choose from”

6. “The menu provides healthy meal

options”

7. “The amount of food I get is enough”

8. “The flavors of the food go well

together”

10. “The variety of in the menu from day to

day”

17. “The serving portions are consistent”


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Comparison and discussion of marketing plan implementation data collection results

Our marketing plan had an impact on school lunch participation, perceptions, and plate

waste at Statesboro High School. Our objective was to increase the number of students who

participate in school lunch at that high school by 5 percent within 3 weeks. We also wanted

students to select deli subs or salads more often because these are healthier items. We found that

prior to implementation of our marketing plan, only about 65 percent of enrolled students


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participated in the school lunch program. We found that most of these students selected pizza as

their entree and they were not as interested in the deli subs or salads. After implementation of our

marketing plan, we found that students became more aware of the deli line and selected deli subs

or salads over other entrees when pizza was not offered. Those students who chose a deli sub ate

¾ or all of it.

Conversations regarding effectiveness of marketing plan implementation

When we spoke with Martha White and her staff on Monday September 21st, they

seemed very pleased with the effectiveness of our marketing plan and implementation. We asked

her if she thought our materials had a positive effect on the participation in school lunch and

more specifically in the participation of the deli-line. She informed us that she believes that our

implementation was successful and that it helped boost participation in the deli-line. She noted

that one day during implementation they had 289 students go through the sub-line, which is

much higher than they typically see on any given day. She also noted that they have noticed 9th

graders seemed to go through the deli-line more often than any of the other grades.

Assessment of overall effectiveness of marketing plan and implementation

As discussed with Martha White, the school nutrition manager, there has been an increase

in student participation in the deli line as well as an increase in overall lunch participation,

particularly from the 9th graders.

For our marketing plan, our group implemented a bulletin board, created tabletop

decorations, deli line decorations and created a TV slideshow to help highlight the school lunch

and encourage students to participate.

When our group returned to Statesboro High School to do our follow-up plate waste

studies, we found that in contrast to our previous studies, there was more participation in the deli


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line on September 21st. Also on this day, the deli line had more participation than the hot food

line. On September 22nd, more students purchased the personal pan pizza. This was similar to

our previous plate waste study results. The plate waste studies showed that on September 23rd,

the majority of students chose the popcorn chicken option. Unlike our previous plate waste study

results, this was a hot line itemed entrée.

We found little change in the students’ perceptions of school lunch in comparison to our

previous study. However, there was a change in the students’ perception of friendliness of the

lunchroom staff. Our follow-up perception studies showed that the students found the staff to be

less friendly.

Strengths and weaknesses. Our biggest strength was our communication both as a group

as well as with the school staff. We were able to complete all areas of the research with minimal

complications. The kitchen staff was very helpful and we were able to establish a relationship

with them as well. The kitchen manager, Martha White, was very helpful and excited about all of

our implemented marketing strategies.

A few weaknesses we encountered included the student perception and lack of interest in

the school lunch program. It was then our goal to change that perception so more students would

want to participate in school lunch. Another weakness was the menu offerings provided for the

students. When we began the research in August, pizza was offered every day and was the most

popular menu item based on our data collection. Starting in September, however, pizza was

offered three days a week. Our biggest weakness was collecting the participation data. It was

difficult to decipher who had already completed a survey and which survey was completed. It is

possible there were multiple students who filled out surveys on consecutive days.


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Suggestions for improvement. Suggestions to improve the study would include

refiguring and conducting the plate waste surveys. It was difficult to assess the correct amount of

portions of food eaten by the students thus not providing overly accurate data. Another

suggestion would involve collecting the participation data. Many students complained about

filling out surveys or would not fill them out.

Documents

Marketing Acceptance Write Up