SCHOOL/DISTRICT FOOD SERVICE CAPABILITIES

he Portolan Group, inc. is the nation's premier provider of support services operations benchmarking, monitoring, and assessment, specializing in food, physical plant (maintenance, custodial and grounds) and transportation services.

 

Our staff has many years of experience in managing and providing support to the K-12 market. We provide consulting services for school district food service programs. We will analyze the staffing, purchasing, marketing, food preparation and commodity usage of the food service department. We will assess how the department interfaces with other service providers in the district.

We look at student participation rates, use of federal programs and methods for maximizing reimbursement. We will evaluate your training programs. We will even evaluate how your food service workers interface with the academic program, something that is ignored by virtually every other company.

We do not rely on using baseline data from other districts to offer comparisons. We look at the unique facilities and culture of each district to determine optimal food service operations. We believe that over-reliance on comparators leads to artificial data.

If you are considering outsourcing a portion or the entire department, we will help you evaluate the options. We are neither for nor against outsourcing. Our goal is to help you identify the most effective manner to manage the food service department in your particular district.

A sample of the core services in which we have expertise includes analysis of the following food service functions:

• Organizational culture/management
• Business planning
• Staffing, scheduling and training; either outsourced or in-house
• Participation analysis by students, staff and a la carte
• Food production and control
• Procurement
• Marketing
• Nutrition - Taste/Education/Wellness
• Training/Training Programs
• Electronic and non-electronic point of sale (POS/MIS/IT)
• Equipment
• Monitoring, negotiating and writing of contracts and RFPs for outsourced services
• Monitoring food service operations with our food service monitoring program (on-going support with key performance indicators (KPIs) and financial and operational benchmarks)
• Expenditure and resource analysis in the areas of purchased services, staff and materials/supplies
• The design, balance and organization of production and dining areas
• Food service staff and management job descriptions
• Food service performance indices (food service department performance and school/site food service performance)

We have several programs available to support the food service needs of our clients. These programs are explained in detail below:

• Food Service Program Assessment
• Safe Harbor Assessment/Quality Assurance Program
• Navigator Food Service Monitoring Program

Food Service Program Assessment

Highlights

The Portolan Group will assess your food service program utilizing on-site visitation, data evaluation and off-site analysis. We provide recommendations that will:

• Assist the school/district to determine the efficiency of its food service program and structure (managerial, supervisory and hourly)
• Assist the school/district to determine the effectiveness (service satisfaction) of its program offerings
• Provide professional staff to gather and analyze data, conduct interviews, provide comparisons with other service models and perform site visits (typically we visit a significant sample or 15% of all school sites as part of our assessment)
• Provide professional staff with operational experience
• Provide professional staff experienced in KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in schools/districts ranging from one to three hundred schools
• Bring a focused examination of the department’s cultural component. Provide insight into the food service program’s integration with the school/district’s overall culture and mission
• Provide an assessment of information technology and systems
• Provide analysis and findings of the financial/budgetary component of the program
• Train the staff in new methods of budget and operational analysis
• Train staff in change management in a school/district culture
• Provide the capability/expertise to lead the school/district through the decision-making/change/implementation process

Overview

We offer clients strategies for improvement that are practical and designed for implementation in the real K-12 world. We understand the different models of school/district food services. We provide assessments that are based in both sound practices and innovative strategies. We analyze operations, staffing, finances and culture. Our purpose is to help you envision how utilizing our improvement strategies and optional operational models is the option you have to save money and/or improve operations.

We continue to work with you until you completely understand our observations and recommendations and select strategies for improvement. We provide you the information necessary for sound decision-making. Our assessments involve analysis and recommendations designed to allow school/district leadership to choose the correct timeframe and methodology for improvement/change strategies. Our analysis team will gain knowledge of and understand each component of your food service program.

As part of our analysis, we will (depending on the scope):

• Review the current organizational chart and staffing (administrative, supervisory and hourly employees)
• Review the use of technology and systems in the operation of the department
• Review and analyze all past department reports and studies
• Study procurement practices, including outside purchased services
• Review existing agreements between the school/district and contracted services and the protocols for contracted services management
• Seek to obtain a solid understanding of the culture of your school/district specifically as it relates to your food service program
• Interview board members, food service program leaders, site administrators, central office personnel, curriculum and instructional leaders, hourly food service workers, union leadership and other relevant stakeholders
• Analyze two past years of financial data from the operation of the program
• Combine all this information into findings and options for improvement of the program. We will provide you with the operational, financial and cultural implications of our recommendations

At no point in the process do we provide data or information in isolation. We look historically at what has been while at the same time providing recommendations for future improvements.

Food Service Program Assessment - Areas of Concentration

Program Finances

We normally request the two most recent years of department financial reports. These reports will need to be detailed enough to allow a complete and thorough assessment. We will also need the current year food service program budget with year-to-date actual expenditures.

Operational Statistics

We will need access to the normal and typical statistical information that is compiled by any public school district as part of its fiduciary duties. Our experience will help us determine the correct “benchmarks” or “KPIs” for your school/district.

School/District Culture

People are the most important component of a support service operation. The degree of resistance to change helps determine if new protocols and standard operating procedures will be fully implemented. The climate and culture of a school/district support service department is a key determinant of whether an assessment effort leads to change or simply becomes credenza-ware. We will identify the forces for and against change. We will help identify factors and methods that are compatible with your school/district’s culture.

If change is necessary, will your school/district be able to implement it? This is an all-important question that must be answered. Change readiness is a key ingredient to any improvement action plan.

Employee labor groups must be included to get their feedback. We will want to interview all appropriate stakeholders to get their perspectives and to keep them informed. We focus on gaining input from instructional leaders as well. Inclusion is very important as an assessment progresses.

We have specific training programs to assist in the change management/acceptance process. We provide this training as a part of our normal and typical assessment.

Strategies for Assessment

Our assessments involve members of The Portolan Group staff in your school/district over the appropriate amount of time necessary for the project scope. Our time in the school/district will be punctuated by verbal and written reports, inclusive of financial, organizational and staffing analysis and recommendations. Portolan Group personnel will be on-site to accomplish specific projects/aspects of the study. This time on-site will vary according to the particular work being done. Our time in a school/district has ranged from as short as two days to as long as two years.

Project Model

The Portolan Group will meet with the school/district’s administration and food service program staff to prepare a detailed plan to coordinate the work.

The Portolan Group will coordinate a detailed timetable of key dates and deadlines with school/district personnel. Senior members of The Portolan Group engagement team will hold periodic meetings with school/district staff to discuss the timetable, the progress of the engagement and any unusual circumstances or problems that might require modification of the plan.

Our assessments are conducted in phases. These phases are identified for project organization and may overlap. The same or similar processes, methods and data may be analyzed in more than one phase. From an operations perspective, the assessment can include the following:

• Data gathering, analysis and interpretation
• Field work and site visitation (service locations)
• Staff interviews
• Report writing
• Presentation of findings including comments and data
• Presentation of recommendations/options for improvement
• Presentation of cost impact and implications
• Presentation of implementation assistance strategies
• Collaboration with staff to identify desired recommendations and improvement plans and implementation of the same

Project Phases and Tools

• Compare your school/district to industry standards and best practices
• Review the department for balance and adequacy of the management and clerical staffing
• Review supervisory and hourly staffing levels for adequacy to program offerings, service delivery format and participation
• Review the program’s business plan to ensure it supports the school/district’s mission (this includes budget/finances)
• Review current manager, supervisor and hourly employee training programs
• Review food production and control
• Assess marketing, advertising and pricing
• Assess employee and food safety programs
• Assess program equipment

Information Technology

• Review all systems to determine compatibility and ability to coordinate all activities of the program
• Review the use of technology to communicate with students, staff, administrators, parents and community
• Review how the different systems track data (labor utilization, participation, all costs, all revenues, the timeliness and accuracy of reports)
• Review how equipment is maintained (repaired/replaced) by the maintenance department or outside contracts.
• Assess the staffing/labor capability of the current systems to track hours, sick time, workers comp, etc.
• Assess asset management systems integration, including comprehensive equipment condition index and capital planning.

Procurement/Storage/Distribution

• Conduct an analysis of all procurement activities
• Examine the total system of ordering, inventory, storing, distribution and transportation of food and supplies
• Review purchasing practices to determine purchasing timeliness as it impacts menu planning

Site Visits

The assessment phase will include a visit to a pre-determined percentage of all school and administrative sites, (usually 15%). All visited sites will be evaluated using The Portolan Group School/Site Food Service Performance Index. We prefer that school/district personnel accompany PGI personnel in the visitation and evaluation of each site. In collaboration with the school/district, the sites to be visited will be identified.

Site Analysis

• Review the appropriateness and effectiveness of the overall service delivery format (central kitchen, satellite, pre-plated, full service kitchens)
• Review any quality variance between sites
• Determine site administrator and staff satisfaction with the program
• Determine student satisfaction with the program
• Assess the site for maximum efficiency and effectiveness

Safe Harbor Food Service Assessment/Quality Assurance Program

Safe Harbor includes:

• PGI’s exclusive Food Service Performance and School/Site Food Service Performance Indices
• Directions on how to use the performance indices
• Limited on-site support from PGI staff for the initial training and monitoring of the program
• The license to utilize our indices (valid for one year from the date of purchase)
• Unlimited phone/e-mail support related to the use of the indices for the duration of the license
• A reduced cost license renewal option for use and support of the program for future years

PGI’s Safe Harbor Program is an invaluable tool for department heads. It should be used each year to measure and monitor the performance of your food service department. Whether you are a new manager/director or you have been the department’s leader for many years, these tools will help you determine and improve your department’s performance.

These indices break down specific areas and functions that are routine, day-to-day operational tasks and show you where your department needs to improve. They also show you what areas are performing well. This enables you to show your stakeholders your positive performance.

Each performance index:

• Categorizes important operational program components (organization and culture, business planning, food production and control, training, nutrition-education/taste/wellness, etc.) and itemizes them with specific questions related to how well individual tasks are performed
• Provides scores and ratings of the functional performance of your food service program (200 items) by category and by school/site
• Is totaled to give an overall score and rating (unsatisfactory, needs improvement, acceptable, target or best practice) to each category and by school/site
• Provides our clients with an opportunity to focus their efforts on improving those categories and items that do not rate well. If desired, PGI staff will assist you with strategies to improve those categories or items (at additional cost).

Navigator Food Service Monitoring Program

The Portolan Group can also provide our Navigator Food Service Monitoring Program. Our Navigator Program provides on-going monitoring services of your food service operation. We developed this program with tools and support that allow our clients to monitor the operational and financial components of their food service operation. This allows our clients the opportunity to determine how effective and efficient their food service operations are at any given time through out the year. This program provides key performance indicators and benchmarks that allow our clients to monitor and adjust the functional components of their food service operation as needed.

Samples of the services that are included in our Navigator Food Service Monitoring Program are:

• Monitoring of participation rates (free, reduced and paid). These include charts and graphs by school/site, each month and year-to-date totals
• Contract monitoring of any outsourced services including contract compliance, participation levels, customer satisfaction, menu offerings, nutritional values, etc.
• Our food service performance indices (food service operation performance and school/site food service performance)
• Food service budget reconciliation forms (income and expenses)

Our monitoring program is usually provided on an annualized basis to cover the complete fiscal year of our clients operation. It includes on and off-site support from our food service experts for the duration of the program.

Cooperation and Support Expectations of the
School/District for On-Site Assessments

The following are The Portolan Group’s expectations of the school/district:

• Your school/district will assign a project manager to this project to serve as a point-of-contact for all matters related to this project
• Your school/district will provide access to all necessary data, sites and staff in a timely manner
• Your school/district will provide a space/office with phone, internet and copy machine access for The Portolan Group team to use while they are on-site
• Your school/district will provide temporary ID badges for access to buildings (All on-site PGI staff will undergo your school/district’s background check, as required)
• Your school/district will provide school/district staff to accompany The Portolan Group teams on school site visits (one per site visit team per day). We suggest these be leadership/supervisory level staff and that as many different personnel are involved as possible. This involvement will give them the opportunity to see the assessment process from a personal and tangible perspective
• Your school/district will operate in a spirit of collaboration with The Portolan Group throughout the process.
  

Please let us know from the contact page if you would like to speak further with us about what we can do to help you with your school food service needs.