Denver has also invested in some expderimental vending machines to let it offer reimbursable offer vs. serve meals. Getting the software and hardware running effectively has been a challenge, he says, “but since January, we believe we've got the problems solved.”

Students who use the machines enter their six-digit ID codes and select a combination of items to purchase. Software calculates the price based on whether it complies with reimbursable guidelines; it also interfaces with the school's POS system and knows if a customer is eligible for a reimbursable meal or has already obtained one on the line.

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Students can only obtain reimbursable meals during specified periods; at other times of the day, pricing is a la carte. The system also accepts cash from a debit card system that parents can fund via a web-based program.

Lesh says his department “is picking up about 500 more reimbursable meals a month” from the machines and that these sales are not coming from the lunch line.

“This kind of approach has a lot of promise for districts like ours where we have a tough time finding and keeping workers, and where we are always trying to serve more students than time and space really allows,” he says. “We placed these machines outside of the cafeteria. They give us a new point of service we did not have before.”

For vended snacks, Lesh says his staff makes a concerted effort to identify new items that will prove popular and also meet the nutritional needs of the district's wellness policy.

“Finding new items that students like is going to get tougher as salt content becomes something that is regulated,” he observes. “We expect to see rules about salt coming soon.

“And cost is always an issue,” he adds. “We recently tested two new snack products — one was a dehydrated corn snack and the other was a one-oz. pack of dehydrated cherries. Both have promise, but both would represent a cost per pack to us of about 49 cents, which with even a modest markup to cover opertional costs is higher than what we would like.”

Lesh says fruit consumption is increasing steadily in the Denver schools, although it does not rank as high among students there as the NPD research indicates. Still, “a few years ago, we spent about $259,000 on fruits and vegetables over the school year, and that is now over a half million annually.”

Once a month, foodservice passes out free fruit samples to students as part of a program to introduce them to new fruit items like jicama. Both fresh and canned fruits are used “and in some cases we have increased our portion sizes from 1/2 to 3/4 cup,” he says. Cranberries, obtained through the commodities program, have become a popular ingredient in many of the school's salad offerings, he adds.

Fairfax County: more ovens needed

In contrast, School Foodservice Director Penny McConnell, R.D., says she has watched a decline in vending in her Fairfax County, VA, district. “Although we also control all of the vending here, we've seen a drop of about 10 percent that we attribute to changes in the product mix as we've eliminated trans fats and adopted the school food recommendations of the Institute of Medicine.

“Students tell us they don't like the more nutritious items as well, but they are slowly accepting them. That is the same experience we had when we shifted to whole grain products. In our case, I think vending sales will come back over time. But for schools where vending was heavily influenced by sales of soft drinks and candy, I believe their elimination has resulted in some lost sales that will never come back.”

In looking at the NPD ranking of snacks and beverages, McConnell notes that some items, like carbonated soft drinks, candy and some salty snacks are likely being purchased from vending machines and other outlets not controlled by school nutrition departments.