It's no secret that students can get tired of eating the same thing over and over again. Offering different and new menu items can freshen up your meals and get students excited about eating in the cafeteria. Hosting a taste test event is a great way to get students involved in choosing new menu items and learning more about their preferences. A successful taste test gives students the opportunity to try new recipes and share valuable feedback before you start serving them on a regular basis.

Getting started is easier than you think! Here are some strategies to help make your taste testing event successful:

Every day across the United States, approximately 500 million plastic straws make their way into landfills. That's enough used plastic straws to circle the earth 2.5 times or fill 46,400 school buses. Scientists estimate that it can take hundreds of years for a single plastic straw to decompose. With that in mind, many schools and student-led organizations across the country are looking to reduce or eliminate plastic straws on campus and in their communities.

Every year we offer free MySchoolBucks materials so districts can share the benefits of online payments with parents. To make sure we're providing the best marketing resources to districts, we surveyed over 90,000 parents to learn more about how they receive school communications and used this information to grow our offerings!  
 

With all new designs, the school menu templates are back! These new 2019-20 school menu templates will be sure to liven up lunchtime and help you prepare for the new year.

That's a great question and likely one that many nutrition programs may not be able to answer. It’s estimated that K-12 schools throw away roughly $1.2 billion dollars worth of food each year! One study found that K-12 schools in Minnesota generated 483,520 lbs. of waste in a given school day and the most prominent category of items filling up the trash cans was food waste.

Start Your Engines for National School Breakfast Week, March 4-8! National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) is the perfect opportunity to promote breakfast and show why it's the most important meal of the day. Eating breakfast is a great way for students to start their morning off on the right foot and help provide enough energy to last throughout the day. It also helps boost overall health and academic performance in school.

The new school year is right around the corner and we're excited to release a whole new set of designs for our 2018-19 school year menu templates!  These fun, free, easy-to-use templates are available for you to download now to prep for the new year.

With popular, unique designs that channel the spirit of each month, these menus are sure to catch the eye of your students' parents.

Since the National School Lunch Act was first signed in 1946, a lot has changed in the world of school nutrition. Meal requirements have been defined and redefined, federal cuts and grants have altered the way programs are managed, and of course the advent of technology has completely changed the way your program operates. 

It’s that time of the year again! Today kicks off this year's National School Breakfast Week from March 5-9. This year's theme is 'I Love School Breakfast' and is the perfect opportunity for you to boost student participation, increase revenue in your cafeterias, and inform students about the importance of eating a healthy breakfast.

We’re thrilled to announce that MealViewer has joined the Heartland family! 
MealViewer is a communication tool for parents, students, and schools
that can help boost participation and grow your program.