In Lee’s Summit school cafeterias, student feedback is the most important ingredient

Just like adults, students’ food preferences are ever changing, with trends ranging from farm-to-table to coffee bars to rice and noodle bowls. With close to 10,700 school lunches and breakfasts served each day within the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District, incorporating student input into school meals is vital.

“Farm-to-table is huge right now,” said Lori Danella, the district’s director of nutrition. “We are seeing the students eat many more fresh fruits and vegetables, and they are willing to try new things. Rice/noodle bowls — teriyaki chicken is popular in the elementary level and sweet chili Thai is popular in the secondary. Smoothies and parfaits are popular for breakfast.”

Coffee bars are also a hit among high-school students.

“We are getting ready to open the Tiger Brew at Lee’s Summit High and will be featuring Starbucks coffee,” Danella said. Offerings include lattes, cappuccinos and coffees that meet the national Smart Snack guidelines for schools.

To encourage student feedback, the Lee’s Summit School District has operated student Nutrition Councils for a number of years. Each school is represented by two to three members, Danella said, with principals selecting their student reps. This group, which includes students from first through 12th grades, meets each month.

“We look for someone who eats breakfast and lunch with us and is willing to voice their and their peers’ opinions,” Danella said. “We want their input because we are here for our students and if we have a bad menu, our participation will go down.”

Nutrition Services is a self-supporting department, receiving no school district funds for its operation. “We have to have a good menu for breakfast and lunch to survive,” Danella said.

In addition to sharing their opinions about items currently at the cafeterias, the Nutrition Council members are tasked with sampling one or two new items at each meeting.

“They vote thumbs up if they like it and thumbs down if they don’t,” she said. “Then they share what they think their classmates will think about the product.”

Farm-to-table options have been a part of cafeteria offerings in the Lee’s Summit R-7 cafeterias for several years.

“In 2019 I heard about KC Food Hub and contacted them,” Danella said. “We decided we would start with two to three schools purchasing from them as many local items that the farmers could provide. The produce was amazing and holds so much longer than what we get from our suppliers. Many times the items are picked the night before or the morning of delivery.”

Even during the pandemic, Danella said the cafeterias were able to increase farm-to-table options, with local produce now available at all schools.

“When we couldn’t get produce items from our produce company during COVID, we were able to turn to the Hub and get fresh apples, pears and other items,” she added. “We also purchase some cheese items and beef sticks for our bento boxes.”

As this partnership grew, some local farmers began using greenhouses to offer lettuce and tomatoes year round.

Much of the local produce is served on the schools’ Garden Bars.

“Students love to see what they are going to have on the Garden Bars for lunch every day,” Danella said. “Our waste has gone down, and they are eating so many more fresh fruits and veggies. The lettuce is always so crisp and green; the sweet corn this year was so sweet and crunch;, and strawberries, peaches, pears and apples are so juicy and ripe.”

The partnerships with local farmers continues to benefit the school district, students and area growers.

“We are getting the freshest produce possible — varieties we can’t get from our commercial produce supplier,” she said.

“And we are supporting our community farmers.”

Anyone interested in seeing what’s on the menu at Lee’s Summit schools may follow Lee’s Summit R-7 Nutrition Services on Facebook for food photos from school cafeterias.