A few days back, a friend of mine asked me what I do for a living.  I explained that I was a National Sales Manager for Heartland School Solutions.   We hadn’t seen each other in a few years, and as the father of twins beginning kindergarten this year, he was very interested to hear all about it.  We chatted about our careers, and I began to think about the complexity of our K-12 food service industry.

With over 30 million students participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) everyday, you might not be surprised to hear that those same students generate over $600 million in food waste each year.  Making an effort to reduce food waste can save your operation money, increase meal consumption in the lunchroom, and help minimize your school's impact on the environment.

Here are some simple solutions to reduce food waste before it happens, recover foods that are on their way to the trash, and recycle food waste that might otherwise end up in a landfill:

School nutrition program directors, managers, and staff are required to complete a minimum amount of annual training hours to meet the USDA Professional Standards provision outlined in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA).  These hours of training also translate into Continuing Education Units (CEUs), which can be used towards maintaining your Certificate in School Nutrition or SNS Credentials through SNA.

With Verification just around the corner, there's a number of things you and your staff can do in your Free & Reduced software to make this process even smoother this school year.  In working with our in-house Free & Reduced experts, we've come up with 5 things every district should do now to prepare for the start of Verification:

October is National Farm to School Month, which celebrates the connection schools and their communities have with fresh, healthy food grown by local producers.

Coming up with new, healthy recipes for school cafeterias can be challenging to say the least.  Fortunately, many states and organizations across the country have developed cookbooks full of nutritious recipes school kids will love.

Here are 13 of our favorite school cookbooks that feature plenty of locally sourced ingredients and flavors from around the globe:

Good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle begin at home. As a school administrator or school nutrition professional, you have a unique opportunity to share helpful tips with both students and their families.

A message from Terry Roberts, President of Heartland School Solutions. 

It’s hard to believe, but the 2016-2017 school year is already upon us! We hope you have enjoyed your summer and are as excited and eager as we are for the start of a new school year. Here at Heartland, we’ve been busy this summer training new staff, making enhancements to our software platforms, meeting with customers, and doing all that we can to ensure you and your district receive only the very best service and support from us.

Having up-to-date student information in your cafeteria point of sale (POS) system is vital to running a successful operation.  Serving reimbursable meals, end of the day reporting, and reconciling deposits all depend on the quality of your student information.  Understanding how to get this information out of your Student Information System (SIS) and into your POS system is an important first step.

The new school year is here! Get your menus ready with free easy-to-use templates that look as good as your meals do.  With fun designs for each month, these menus are sure to catch the eye of your students' parents.