How fall 2021 affected child-focused foodservice
Restaurants are responding to consumer demand for healthier items for children, and school foodservice operations are able to reintroduce what worked and be flexible when it’s not.
These are two major findings in the Fresh Insights for Foodservice Fall 2021 report, presented by United Fresh Produce Association, powered by Dataessential.
Kids menus
Green beans increased 43% on kids’ menus the last four years, according to Datassential’s Feeding Kids Keynote Report. The winter holidays also spotlight the favored string bean. Operators that offer smaller versions of adult entrees often include green beans as a side option, “while other operators get creative and offer options like green bean dippers or fried green beans for crunch.”
The rise of the green bean makes sense, considering 36% of parents said they wish restaurants had healthier side dish options on kids’ menus. The desire for more well-balanced meals for children has prompted foodservice operators to offer more fruit and vegetable sides, such as apple slices, steamed vegetables and fruit salad.
But some operators are taking it a step further, offering children similar trendy, globally-inspired foods as their parents get. Often packed with peas and carrots, fried rice is the fastest-growing side dishes on kids’ menus, growing 34% in the last four years, according to Datassential MenuTrends.
Corn grew 17% as a side on kids’ menus in four years, but it shows up in a much wider range of applications, including in corn fritters and elote, which you eat with your hands.
Tater tots are the fastest-growing side dish on children’s menus, and operators are getting creative with them, swapping in cauliflower and broccoli for potatoes with fresh, house-made dipping sauces. Sweet potatoes are also showing up more on kids’ menus as fries, providing a pop of color and hit of sweetness children love.
K-12 supply chain disruptions
Basically, if your business has survived this far, you’re feeling a little optimistic that you will continue surviving: 51% of kindergarten through 12th grade school foodservice operators say they are cautiously optimistic about their business in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain issues.
“Since August, schools have dealt with rising food costs as well as shortages and delays due
to supply chain disruptions,” according to the report. “Uncertainty over inventory means most kids aren’t being served exactly what’s advertised on menus, as meals are often changed on-the-fly.”
But the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced investments designed to help ease school food supply chain issues and relaxed restrictions so that schools can make last-minute purchases at grocery or bulk stores to meet student needs.
Most school children are no longer doing remote video-learning classes, so free and reduced breakfast and lunch programs no longer have to be delivered or offered take-out style.
Supply chain issues have affected fresh produce, but not as much as it has other food and foodservice items, according to the report.
Growing items in the K-12 foodservice sector are: red cabbage, sauteed spinach, car acara and blood oranges, according to the report.
Also, salad bars are back in many school districts, which can ease labor woes.
“All middle and high schools are once again using self-serve salad bars to offer a variety of fresh choices, and students at the elementary level have similar options, but with staff assistance to save on time,” Lauren Couchois, South Carolina’s Greenville County Schools culinary specialist, said in the report.
“The supply chain challenges have caused some last-minute scrambling with a number of menu items, although we’ve still been able to make fresh produce available to students daily.”
