Plains school lunch program brings profit

PLAINS – The dash for school lunch is a long process at the Plains High School, while workers in the kitchen serve up delicious meals that are nutritiously beneficial to the students.

In an hour and eight minutes, 323 hungry lunch-goers were dished up chicken potpie on Wednesday afternoon with a side of applesauce, a salad, a biscuit and cookies to end off with, with the majority going to the students.

The process of cycling in the different grade levels for lunch is a demanding one, and according to Thom Chisholm if anything goes wrong, the cafeteria will become backed up.

As the first and second graders lined up for lunch, each of the students washed their hands and waited patiently to go through the line. Once the first and second graders have eaten, the Kindergarten cycles in followed by the third and fourth graders, the seventh and eight graders, two groups of high school students and finishing off with the fifth and sixth graders.

According to Chisholm, the lunch cycle is based on the kid’s schedules.

With each grade level having a different portion size based on federal regulations, the kitchen staff is hard at work matching portion sizes to the kids being fed.

“I want you to put this into perspective, we’re doing this in less than an hour and 20 minutes,” said Chisholm describing the lunch process. “It was a very big logistics problem for the kitchen staff to figure out when and where to serve.”

Even with the switching portion sizes, the kitchen staff handled the crowds of kids with ease, providing a delicious, hearty meal to all those waiting in line.

Chisholm explained the quality has increased therefore the quantity of school lunches being provided has also increased.

The Plains School District is one of the only schools in the state of Montana to be serving up a profitable lunch, gaining money on their lunch program.

“It’s very unusual to have a food service program that generates income,” said Chisholm.

And the profit can be seen from as far back as 20 years or so.

“If you’re running in excess, you’re supposed to back your cost of the meal down,” said Chisholm stating the Plains School District is already at the bottom and cannot cut back any farther.

Although, it is unknown exactly why the lunch program continues to make a profit, Chisholm explained the program doesn’t have much expenditure.

“We don’t have a great deal of expenses in the program,” said Chisholm. “As a result, we simply have more income than expenditures in certain years.”

Along with that, the program is simply efficient. All the money gained from the food service program has to be funneled back into the program and Chisholm is eyeing a new salad bar option, which would treat the kids to an everyday option of soups and salads.

“The idea is there and the funding is there, I don’t have the space,” said Chisholm. “I have too small of a facility to try to make it work out. So that’s one thing that we’re looking at.”

As the years go by, Chisolm explained the school keeps expecting to show a deficit, however that not being the case, the extra money would allow for even more improvements to the food service program.

And this continued pattern is a good one, allowing the school to keep their general fund full, not having to cycle it into the food service program.

“The bad news is if you’re in a school district where (the food service program) is not making money or breaking even, then you have to subsidize that out of your general fund,” explained Chisholm. “Anything taken out of the general fund is a determinant to the education and the students.”

With a successful food service program, the Plains School District does not have to worry about this issue and instead can funnel that money to making more improvements.

Food Services Supervisor, Larri Jo Ovitt, has helped shape the program in many ways.

“(Larri Jo) is super light hearted, she is super fun and she is very energetic,” said Chisholm. “She does anything and everything you ask her. If you ask her for five, she gives you 55.”

In her third year at the school, Ovitt has brought more efficiency to a program, which Chisholm said came from the continuity of the program while it was under Bede Frye and the supervisors that came before her.

Helping Ovitt out is assistant cook, Kathleen Mathers, food servers Cathy Oliver, Betty Clark and Julie Tompkins and dishwasher Karen Soper.

“We’ve taken a good program and streamlined it as far as ordering and staffing. Improving the quality didn’t create the program, creating the program improved the quality,” said Chisholm.

And the improved quality has created a more enjoyable experience for the kids. According to Chisholm, 75 to 80 percent of the Plains kids eat the lunch provided to them by the school - not because they have to but because they want to.