2018 Food and Nutrition Survey

Results

&

Recommendations

Respondent Breakdown

90%

10%

0%

Student

Parent/Guardian

Teacher/Staff

195 Responses

Student Grade Distribution

9%

15%

9%

13% 23%

16%

15%

6th Grade

7th Grade

8th Grade

9th Grade

10th Grade

11th Grada

12 Grade

179 Responses

Gender Distribution

63%

36%

0% 1%

Female

Male

Other

Prefer Not to Say

193 Responses

How often do you buy lunch?

38%

20%

9%

20%

13%

191 Responses

Everyday

Several time a week

Once a week

Occasionally

Never

What would need to change in school lunch to have you buy it?

34.6% 39.7%

78.2%

41.0%

16.7%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

Price Reduction IncreasedVariety

Improved taste& quality

Shorter lunchlines

Will alwaysbring lunch no

matter thechanges in café

78 Responses- more than 1 choice was allowed

How would you rate the variety of meals offered at lunch?

2.1%

22.9%

56.8%

15.6%

2.6%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Poor Fair Satisfactory Good Outstanding

192 Responses

How would you rate the presentation of our school lunches?

8.9%

27.7%

41.9%

19.4%

2.1%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Poor Fair Satisfactory Good Outstanding

191 Responses

How would you rate the quality of school lunches?

13.0%

31.3%

41.1%

13.0%

1.6%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Poor Fair Satisfactory Good Outstanding

192 Responses

The number of serving lines is adequate

16.0%

23.5%

30.5%

23.0%

7.0%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Poor Fair Satisfactory Good Outstanding

187 Responses

The cafeteria is clean and neat

4.3%

8.6%

32.8%

37.1%

17.2%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Poor Fair Satisfactory Good Outstanding

186 Responses

The food service staff is courteous

1.1% 2.1% 6.4%

38.8%

51.6%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Poor Fair Satisfactory Good Outstanding

188 Responses

The time given for lunch period is adequate

30.5%

25.0% 24.6%

12.8%

7.0%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Poor Fair Satisfactory Good Outstanding

187 Responses

Does the department communicate well about specials and offerings

4.8%

9.0%

31.7% 32.3%

22.2%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Poor Fair Satisfactory Good Outstanding

189 Responses

How should the department communicate to you?

71.7%

16.2%

30.6%

4.5% 1.0% 0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%

173 Responses/ More than one response was allowed

Would you like to see food theme days such as Indian or Thai offered?

52%

17%

31%

191 Responses

Yes

No

Undecided

Would you like to see meals labeled with allergy and nutrition information

50%

18%

32%

188 Responses

Yes

No

Undecided

Top 5 Meals

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Pizza Crispy Chicken Burger Bar Loaded Nachos Pasta

Least Favorite 5 Meals

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Pizza BBQ Chicken Pasta Loaded Nachos Chili

New entrees you want to see

• Pasta Bar with ravioli and tortellini

• Hot and Cold Sandwich bar including paninis

• More vegetarian options

• Mac & Cheese

• Salad Bar

• Quesadillas

• Sushi

• Asian choices

Issues you would like us to work on

• Increase vegetarian options

• Healthier options- organic, less processed meals

• Reduced time in lunch lines

• Nutrition and Allergy labeling

• Additional Cuisines - Indian, Thai, additional Asian meals

• More time for lunch

Our Response

We appreciate students and parents taking the time to fill out the survey. Your thoughts and feelings are important to us as we strive to make Dover-Sherborn Food and Nutrition an exciting and healthy place for students to have lunch. In response to your comments we will acting on the following suggestions.

Starting in November, we are adding vegetarian items such as veggie burgers, vegetarian chili and vegetarian nachos to the menus. We will add others as we adapt recipes and have vegetarian protein sources available on the serving lines.

We have been using in season fresh produce from several local farms. We have had very good luck with local squashes this year. Whenever available we also use produce grown at the Dover-Sherborn Public School onsite gardens.

We’ve been incorporating from scratch and “quick scratch” meals several times each month. Quick scratch means sometimes purchasing items that have been semi processed, such as sliced chicken or vegetables. There is limited time available to prepare meals, prohibiting the ability for every item to be made 100% by scratch by the staff. From scratch and quick scratch meals always require a day, or two preparation, as the first meals of the day are served at 10:15 am.

Our Response

We aren’t able at this time to offer a traditional salad bar or pasta bar. Safe food temperature is the number one issue, but serving space is also problematic. We are looking into alternative ways to accomplish these requests. Several different types of salad are offered daily and there are additional fruit and vegetable choices available on every serving line to add to your salad.

We have purchased a new nutrition program and are currently building the nutrition database specific to items we use. When finished, it will give us the ability to post nutrition and allergy information to the menus on the website.

Meal times and lines are not under the direct control of the Food and Nutrition Services. We have forwarded the survey results to the School Administration. We are always looking for the quickest way to serve each, and every meal produced to allow students maximum time to eat their lunches.