SodexoMagic's Annual Student Satisfaction Plan for DCPS, SY 24-25
Welcome to the Annual Satisfaction and Strategic Plan for District of Columbia Public Schools!
and SodexoMagic partnership.
Food & Physical Safety
Focusing on a Zero-Harm Mindset, we aim to ensure the safety of our students and staff every day. In addition to continuous safety training throughout the year, this is our way of ensuring safety is at the forefront of everything we do. We have implemented Daily Quality Assurance Assessments that are completed by Kitchen Leads, Operations Managers, and the Resident Leadership Team. These assessments are also tracked and validated through corrective actions to ensure food safety and safe working environments.
Student Satisfaction
A happy and healthy student goes a long way! Each semester, we measure our progress through student surveys. Based on student feedback, we constantly discover new ways to satisfy our ever-changing student population. We strive to provide warm and welcoming environments where our students can relax their minds and refuel their bodies.
Meal Participation
Making sure that our students receive healthy meals is at the core of what we do. Providing outstanding customer service, fun and engaging in-person activities, and delicious food that our students love further drives meal participation.
Communications
Communication is key to ensuring our students, parents, and school communities are aware of information related to the student dining and nutrition program within the school district. We are committed to participating in events such as Back to School, Magic Kitchen, and Nutrition Education to inform school communities about our services, menu offers, and promotions and obtain feedback on opportunities to enhance our services.
Engagement
We want to ensure all our guests get to participate in the fun! We will incorporate monthly promotional events within our student dining calendar to keep students excited about their food, involved, and engaged.
Accountability
Anchored in accountability, our team will develop and execute plans that reflect DCPS's goals, with a heightened focus on operational growth opportunities. This further includes operating with an accountable team to address operational improvements immediately
Responsiveness
We are committed to accelerating the delivery of effective solutions, fueling innovation, and empowering a culture of collaboration while delivering quality results to drive partnership growth and overall satisfaction.
Compliance
Our on-site management team has a complete and thorough understanding of the operating standards needed to meet or exceed Federal and DCPS nutritional guidelines and is prepared to overdeliver.
Student Participation
Student participation is critical to creating a sense of belonging within our schools. With more students feeling like they belong in our warm and welcoming dining environments, the chances of student success rates go up. With increased communications with students and parents, this plan will support driving awareness of our food concepts, promotions, and our brand new Nutrislice website.
Nutrition Education
Nutrition education will be incorporated into all student touchpoints. We will focus on driving nutrition programming while offering engagement opportunities across schools to promote health and wellness initiatives.
OUR COMMITMENT
TO EXCELLENCE AT DCPS
The entire SodexoMagic team embodies our commitment to accelerate the delivery of effective solutions, fuel innovation, empower a culture of collaboration, and deliver unsurpassed quality. Together, we create joyful dining experiences and remain rooted in quality nutrition for all. We strengthen current business practices with newly designed position-specific job aids, aligning training to site-based contractual requirements while delivering contingency plans to address frequent challenges experienced at DCPS proactively. We drive consistent meal accountability efforts, robust operational protocols, and new procedures designed to mitigate performance deficiencies outlined in the May 2024 notice to CURE and improve the culinary dining experience. Throughout this section, you will find below, we have listed the area covered in this section.
• Procurement Plan
• Critical control point validation plan
• Ensuring compliance
• Training Plan
• Nutrition Plan
OUR PROCUREMENT PLAN
In our efforts to achieve our goals of delivering a high-quality, tasty, and nutritious food experience to the DCPS students, we are transitioning our Bakery and Dairy vendor partnership from HNS Bakery and Harrisburg Dairy to Flowers Bakery and Cloverland Dairy as of August 28, 2024. We proudly to welcome these two companies to our portfolio of trusted partners.
Flowers Foods is the second-largest producer and marketer of packaged bakery foods in the U.S. Delighting customers with delicious baked goods, they strive to be a bold, visionary baked foods company with the consumer at the core of everything we do.
Cloverland Dairy has been delivering quality products to the Mid Atlantic area for more than a century. It's the taste and quality that generations of families have come to know and love.
At Cloverland, they take pride in our product. We strive to create and distribute the best tasting milks, juices, cultured products, and ice cream mixes in the market. Quality starts at our processing plant, which exceeds federal standards. This means that every serving of milk, juice, or tea is fresh, safe, and delicious.
OUR PROCUREMENT PLAN
During our welcome-back training, which took place from August 5 through August 7, the team reviewed the new ordering protocols for bread and dairy with all Leads and Cooks. In addition, we reviewed receiving protocols/procedures with all employees during our food safety breakout session.
To increase visibility into the quality assurance process, we have partnered with the procurement team to change the packaging on all products that are not easily visible for quality inspections. If the packaging cannot be changed, we will remove that item from the menu.
To continue our commitment with GFPP (Good Food Purchasing Program) values of local economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare, and nutrition, we have made SY 24/25 forward commitments to local BIPOC farmers through common marketplace. This allows us to further uplift the local community and supply our schools and children with even more fresh local produce.
CRITICAL CONTROL POINT VALIDATION PLAN
Our Quality Assurance and Quality Control programs are essential to improving the quality of life of your students and stakeholders and heightening the level of service and performance our team delivers to the District of Columbia Public Schools. Below, you will find our plan for validating our critical control points.
Ensuring Compliance | Assessing Our Risk
Daily QA Checklist – Site Leads will complete daily by 11:00 AM to ensure that we identify any potential risk and document corrective action taken.
Pest Activity | Sighting Log – used by our site leads to report used to document any rodent or pest sightings/activity (roaches, rats, mice, ants, beetles, birds, etc.) within the facility.
Monthly Food Safety Audit - must be completed monthly. The items on this form are the same requirements assessed by our third-party food safety audit company and monitored by most regulatory agencies during food establishment inspections.
SMS Quality Assurance Audits – Operations Managers will perform a minimum of 2 audits daily (1 breakfast / 1 lunch). Each school is to be audited at least once per week.
Potential Risk Report will be provided to DCPS by each Tuesday morning before 10am following the call of each operational week of service.
This report will identify where food safety is at risk and document corrections for adherence to contract requirements. Data from the Daily QA Checklist, Pest Activity | Sighting Log, Monthly Food Safety Audit and SMS Quality Audit will be incorporated into this report.
This log must be kept in accordance with all aspects of data retention required and for 3 years beyond the term of the Contract.
ENSURING COMPLIANCE | ASSESSING OUR RISKS
Operations Managers will be utilizing the SMS platform to conduct site Quality Assurance Audits which can be completed via phone and tablet devices while in the school's dining areas and kitchens. Results will be fed to an analytic dashboard that will be reviewed by the leadership team daily. Utilization of the SMS platform establishes a quality assurance process at a level of consistency, with photos and reports, to demonstrate we are tracking technical delivery performance and delivering healthy food and excellent services.
Site Management System (SMS) Key Success Factors:
• Appropriate utilization of the tool by area directors and operations leaders to illustrate quality control actions
• Dashboard used to identify common strengths or weaknesses in our food delivery system.
• Opportunity to partner with DCPS Food Nutrition Services for collaboration, and alignment to quality
Operations Managers are required to complete at least 2 Quality Assurance Audits per day (2 schools) x 5 days a week = 10 Quality Assurance Audits per cluster/per week. This strategy will ensure that all 48 schools can receive an audit every week.
In addition, the Residence Leadership team, RDM, Food Procurement Manager, Marketing Manager, and Senior Nutrition Manager, will complete a minimum of 6 Quality Assurance Audits per week, this will further ensure that all measures of quality control are being implemented.
What is SMS?
SMS is an Evolution in the way or operations work. This online portal empowers onsite teams to support their daily operations and help them make decisions based upon operational information and data.
OUR TEAMS, OUR PEOPLE
We are committed to offering equal employment opportunity in all aspects of employment. We will continue to strive to employ and promote the best-qualified person for each job and, in doing so, complies with legal requirements.
About Our Team
We are proud that 72% of over 274 team members reside in the District of Columbia. DCPS students are served by local employees who are trained and supported by industry leaders. We are committed to our team through personalized career path training, ensuring that employees feel a sense of belonging, find purpose in how they serve DCPS, and have the ability to thrive in their own way.
SodexoMagic has partnered with District of Columbia Public Schools since 2016. We are especially proud of our existing partnership through which we provide student dining services at 49 schools.
We provide breakfast, lunch, snacks, supper, and summer meals to nearly 26,426 students and serving 25,700 meals daily. Our on-site team plans, coordinates, and executes all necessary functions to serve delicious and nutritious meals in a clean and safe learning environment for all students.
Our Promise of Respect and Fair Treatment
We will continue to demonstrate our commitment to treat all employees in the District with respect and fairness, every employee is guaranteed the right to:
• Voice a complaint or concern
• Be heard in an atmosphere of respect and cooperation
• Have the complaint acknowledged by a member of management in a timely way
• Have the compliant acknowledged by successively higher levels of management if the employee is not satisfied with response or does not receive it in the appropriate timeframe.
• Have no fear of retaliation for presenting a complaint or concern
Security Clearance and ID Badges
We will ensure the safety of students and staff through compliance with a full comprehensive criminal background and security check performed on all prospective employees utilizing the Washington, D.C,. Department of o Law Enforcement for state and national/federal background checks.
All SodexoMagic Team Members are required to have an ID Badge on when on DCPS property. All new hires will be directed to pick up their ID Badge before reporting to their assigned school
Leverage Technology Through Use of Dexi
Dexi is a simple, conversational hiring solution that makes the hiring process faster, easier and more convenient. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automate administrative tasks, simplify the candidate journey and streamline the hiring process. Dexi understands natural language to offer personalized responses to candidates, guiding them through the application, screening, interview scheduling, hiring, background check and onboarding processes.
Why did we implement Dexi?
To enhance our frontline hiring system and deliver an industry-competitive frontline hiring experience for candidates and hiring managers. We must:
• Speed up our ability to attract and hire frontline candidates to be competitive
• Focus on the candidate experience
• Give hiring managers their time back and shift them from being recruiters to hiring and managing talent
• Adopt tools to meet the new market demand for finding top talent
• Align our processes to gain efficiencies and ease the burden of manual data entry placed on hiring managers
How does Dexi improve the hiring process?
For candidates, Dexi provides a personalized candidate experience, at scale. Dexi can answer hundreds of questions instantly, deliver personalized jobs right in chat, help candidates schedule (and reschedule) interviews and customize experiences based on a candidate's interactions and progression through the hiring journey.
For hiring teams, Dexi automates, answers, screens, schedules and begins onboarding for candidates. Automating those process can save hours each week for each person, enabling hiring teams and managers to spend more time connecting and building relationships with qualified talent.
We launched Dexi at DCPS in August 2023.
Creating a Culture of Transparency & Accountability
We are committed to staff accountability, communicating and promoting policies for hiring, terminating, and retention of food service team members and management staff.
We are also committed to a staffing plan to include:
• Staffing School Kitchens with Frontline Team Members
o Kitchen Lead responsible for leading daily onsite management of all meal services and quality assurance including food safety
o Cook responsible for following recipes for preparation of cooked and prepared meals along with food safety
o Food Service Worker(s) responsible for assisting in meal preparation and serving students based upon meal service requirements
• Maintaining Cluster Leadership
o Each cluster will be led by an Operations Manager
o The Operations Manager is responsible for providing direct leadership and support to their designated cluster while partnering with the designated FNS Field Specialist
• Communicating
o We will identify and post open frontline and management positions for hiring the best qualified candidates for each role
o We will also ensure key frontline and management staffing changes are communicated to FNS and Building Administration as required
• Retention
o All fulltime frontline team members and salaried managers are eligible for health, dental, and vision benefits, 401K savings plan, paid time off, and a variety of corporate discounts
o All frontline team members are compensated on a weekly basis and are provided a yearly pay increase(s) in accordance to the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the local Teamsters union as well as federal and local fair labor standards act
o All management team members are also provided with yearly pay increases based upon performance from previous year
o We provide ongoing training and development for each role
o We promote a culture of recognition and appreciation through ongoing events
To maintain the accountability of our frontline team members, we have collaborated with the local Teamsters Union to follow progressive discipline and discharge as outlined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement which includes:
o 1st written warning
o 2nd written warning
o 3rd and final written warning and suspension up to 3 days
o Discharge
We are also committed to the accountability of our management team while adhering to the below corrective counseling process:
o Written Coaching
o Written Warning
o Termination
In the event there is a verbal and written request from Building Administration or FNS for the removal of a frontline or management team member, we are prepared to act immediately to ensure operational excellence.
We Have Updated Our Leadership Structure
The leadership structure below shows the structure of the Residence Leadership Team at DC Public Schools and the relationships and relative ranks of its positions and roles. We have prepared for the next evolution of our student nutrition services. We have reorganized the leadership and supervisory teams to decrease span of control. Four operations managers were covering and supporting 11 to 14 schools, we are now transitioning to five operations managers covering and supporting 8 to 10 schools allowing the team to ensure we deliver progress with focus on enhancing quality.
Operations Manager Cluster Assignments – Reducing Span Of Control
Cluster 3
Bruce Monroe ES
Columbia Heights EC
HD Cooke ES
Oyster Adams
Oyster Oyster
Ross ES
Francis Stevens
School Without Walls HS
Thaddeus Stevens
Early Learning Center
Tubman ES
Marie Reed ES
Cluster 4
Bancroft ES
Barnard ES
Dorothy Heights ES
MacFarland MS
Powell ES
Raymond ES
Roosevelt HS
Roosevelt Stay
Truesdell ES
John Lewis ES
Cluster 8
Brightwood ES
Coolidge HS
Deal MS
Hearst MS
Ida B Wells MS
Janney ES
Military Road EC
Takoma ES
Whittier ES
Jackson Reed HS
Updated Residence TeamLeadership Structure
Cluster 9
Banneker HS
Cardozo EC
Clevland ES
Garrison ES
Hyde Addison ES
Key ES
Mann ES
Seaton ES
Stoddert ES
Thomson ES
New Cluster
Lafayette ES
Murch ES
Shepard ES
LaSalle ES
Hardy MS
Eaton ES
Duke Ellington HS
MacArthur HS
The following leadership structure graphically shows the structure of SodexoMagic's Residence Leadership Team at DCPS and the relationships that are relative to ranks, positions, and jobs as of October 20, 2024
TRAINING OUR TEAM MEMBERS AND DEVELOPING SUCCESS
DCPS students will be served by employees who are skilled, positive, enthusiastic, and eager to help improve student performance.
Our Focused on Continuing Food Quality
Improving food quality within a community the size of DCPS takes true partnership, collaboration and a fluid approach to operational challenges that arise – no day is the same and we must be nimble, proactive and communicate effectively as we drive change. Our leadership team has an evolutionary mindset that is built on a foundation steeped in transparency and a One Team approach. We will work with the FNS Team to mitigate challenges, while applying the strongest SodexoMagic resources to proactively help students thrive. We are continued focused on improving food quality, increasing the amount of scratch, quick-scratch, and culturally relevant meals we serve each day
Increase in investment of our Teams through Training & Development
Training is an essential component of supporting the growth and culinary acumen of our team. Current training initiatives include:
•Culinary Foundations training technical skills modules, which ensures a higher quality meal is served with greater consistency across the district
•Learning proper preparation techniques not only improves quality but it also allows for greater innovation regarding culturally appropriate meals
•Job aides, presentation standards, recipe cards and multi-media training activities assist in ensuring we are all moving in the right direction as One Team
Aside from the food itself, the most important component of a quality program for DCPS is the service the on-site team delivers. Our emphasis on providing professional development leads directly to enhancing the student experience. Well-trained and motivated employees, who actively participate in decisions affecting their work and who are afforded growth opportunities within their craft, typically perform more efficiently. They care, and that concern is reflected in the quality of their service to students, staff, and the community.
Our approach to managing our team involves educating, developing, and rewarding teams around the behaviors that support a student well-being culture and improve quality of life in your school district. Our success depends on our employees’ expertise and pride in serving our communities. Through our commitment, we are offering a positive employee experience and making career development opportunities accessible to all employees. Our focus and prioritization on our employee learning, career development and total rewards has directly improved our retention and decreased our regrettable turnover by 17% from 2023.
We strive to ensure that each employee, whatever their qualifications, has the opportunity to continuously develop their skills and advance in their roles, all while supporting student wellbeing and engagement. We impact their quality of life by engaging our local employees, providing a safe, open and inclusive workplace, and offering stable jobs with meaningful wages, benefits and resources.
We require every employee who is part of DCPS’ foodservice team to participate in specific training and development programs. Training programs required by the USDA are completed in accordance with its guidelines, which ensure staff adhere to professional development standards. Our Ingenium training portal provides consistent and clear orientation and onboarding throughout the employee journey, bringing all the tools of the human resources department to DCPS. We are including a below training plan of inclusive of topics per month.
Making Every Student’s Dining Experience Enjoyable Experience has shown that employees who feel valued, are treated fairly and are part of a purpose-driven team are more satisfied and want to perform at their very best. A significant portion of our employee training focuses on motivating staff members to deliver an exceptional student dining experience that results in increased participation and greater satisfaction. We will achieve this at DCPS through a training program called The Customer Experience.
This proprietary customer-service initiative consists of easy-to-follow guidelines employees can use to ensure that they are meeting your students’ needs in an efficient and personable manner.
The Customer Experience will result in an enjoyable dining experience for your students, while motivating staff members by advancing their skill sets and rewarding outstanding performance.
The Customer Experience Principles
• Students Come First. Always.
Ø We have Ten service principles that will guide employees to provide an exceptional student dining experience.
• All Voices Matter!
Ø We will continue to incorporate weekly team meetings and daily huddles held at all locations to reinforce program principles that set our teams up for success.
• A Job Well Done Deserves Recognition
Ø Exceptional Experience Cards (awarded by peers and supervisors) recognize an individual’s contribution to delivering excellent customer service.
Our Customer Service Expectations at DCPS
• Reinforce a culture of energy, connection, and outstanding customer service
• Impact employee retention and fuel the pipeline of future leaders
• Support DCPS through engaged and motivated employees
• Recognize our employees for the work they do to support student well-being and DCPS’ mission
Food Safety and Occupational Health Training
Everything we do is built on safety first. We strive for zero injuries and illnesses and infuse a safety culture into your food service program. Both management and hourly employees receive safety training that incorporates your District’s requirements.
Safety Requirements
• Safe Kitchens training is required for all employees
• Safety education training for both management and hourly employees
• SodexoMagic On-site Manager Academy training (including workplace safety fundamentals) for all new and tenured managers
• Food safety orientation and training for all new food service hires
• Frontline employee training that complies with all regulatory standards
Food Safety Orientation Program
All food service employees complete an annual two-step food safety training, as well as various professional standards training as required throughout the year.
Equal Employment Opportunity Training
Our equal employment training program outlines the actions our officers, managers, and employees must take to fulfill legal and moral responsibilities. We focus on employing the most qualified candidates for each position while curating a diverse workforce.
Civil Rights Training
We inform, educate, and support all food service employees in your District with annual civil rights training that includes:
• Collection and use of data
• Effective public notification systems
• Complaint procedures
• Compliance review techniques
• Resolution of noncompliance
• Requirements for reasonable accommodation of persons with disabilities
• Requirements for language assistance
• Conflict resolution
• Customer service
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Training
A variety of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion learning labs and online courses strengthen management and staff awareness, as well as skills concerning DE&I. We deliver these instructor-led sessions via virtual webinars and online presentations. Employees and managers can also access training resources through the SodexoMagic DE&I online portal.
MANAGER IN TRAINING PROGRAM
The Manager in Training program (MIT) is for our frontline staff. It offers them the opportunity to advance within the department and become a foodservice manager. In addition to aspiring managers, we also encourage and invite managers who have been hired and have not yet gone through the program. For aspiring managers, we hope to give them a true idea of what being a manager means by giving them the knowledge to do the job successfully, and providing them with training, not just towards the job, but socially as well. The MIT program features 12 classes aimed at preparing frontline staff to become highly successful foodservice managers. Training will be held on site and consist of front- and back-of- thehouse training. This program is for all frontline staff who have applied to be a part of this program and are recommended by their managers and supervisors. Each class begins with a safety moment, a diversity moment, and a quiz to review what they’ve learned. Following the 12-class series, MITs then travel through a kitchen site rotation, so they can practice their skills in person. Our integral class will also focus on an overview of the program and our expectations for the MITs, and dive into what leadership means in the foodservice manager role. Managers in Training will learn an array of information, including some of the classes highlighted below:
Feeding the Future – The district’s dietitian will discuss identifying reimbursable meals, offer versus serve, meal patterns and standardized recipes.
Afternoon with the Chef – Our executive chef will cover how students eat with their eyes, how batch cooking is essential for serving hot, fresh meals, and food production focused on standardized records and worksheets.
Staying Safe – The district’s safety and training manager will ensure employees are on point with safety expectations, know how to report injuries and incidents, what is required to post within the kitchen and cafeteria, and how to maintain our food safety system. MITs will also take a deeper dive into financials, product ordering end-of- day paperwork, inventory, payroll, email etiquette and understanding how marketing and customer service can impact student participation.
Serving Food (2200) – Correctly and efficiently serve food portions to meet all USDA school meal pattern requirements and encourage healthy food selections, including those for special diets.
Cashier and Point of Service (2300) – Efficiently operate and utilize a Point of Service (POS) system, ensuring correct application of reimbursable meal components, Offer versus serve and confidential student eligibility identification in a financially responsible manner.
Purchasing/Procurement (2400) – Effectively and efficiently implement purchasing procedures and practices in order to appropriately and best utilize supplies and USDA Foods to meet menu requirements, and comply with all Federal, State and local regulations.
Receiving and Storage (2500) – Ensure proper inventory management, including correct delivery and storage of inventory, and that which has been placed on hold or recalled.
Food Safety and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) (2600) – Effectively utilize all food safety program guidelines and health department regulations to ensure optimal food safety.
Communications and Marketing Communications and Marketing (4100) – Develop plans that include involvement with school and community members, empower school nutrition leaders and ensure excellent customer service.
SUMMARY OF REQUIRED MINIMUM CONTINUING EDUCATION AND TRAINING STANDARDS
DIRECTOR’S REQUIREMENTS
Each year, at least 12 hours of annual continuing education/training. Includes topics such as:
• Administrative practices (including training in application, certification, verification, meal counting, and meal claiming procedures), and any specific topics required by FNS, as needed, to address program integrity or other critical issues
This required continuing education and training is in addition to the food safety training required in the first year of employment.
OPERATIONS MANAGER’S REQUIREMENTS
Each year, at least 10 hours of annual continuing education/training. Includes topics such as:
• Administrative practices (including training in application, certification, verification, meal counting and meal claiming procedures)
• The identification of reimbursable meals at the point of service
• Nutrition, health and safety standards, and any specific topics required by FNS, as needed, to address program integrity or other critical issues
FOOD SERVICE WORKER’S REQUIREMENTS Full-Time Staff
Each year, at least 6 hours of annual continuing education and training. Includes topics such as:
• Free and reduced-price eligibility, application, certification and verification procedures
• The identification of reimbursable meals at the point of service
• Nutrition, health and safety standards, and any specific topics required by FNS, as needed, to address program integrity or other critical issues
FOOD SERVICE WORKER’S REQUIREMENTS Part-time Staff – Less Than 20 Hours per Week Each year, at least 4 hours of annual continuing education and training.
We follow the USDA requirements as outlined in the Professional Standards for state and local school nutrition programs personnel as required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
August Welcome Back Opening Training
September Kitchen Lead Training
October Kitchen Lead Training
November Kitchen Lead Training
December Kitchen Lead Training
January Kitchen Lead Training
February Kitchen Lead Training
March Kitchen Lead Training
April Kitchen Lead Training
o Physical and Food Safety
o Child Nutrition Civil Rights, Customer Service Experience, Labor Management
o Dietary Accommodations, Offer vs Serve, Meal Pattern, Reimbursable Meals, Production Records
o Marketing, Display Menus, Identifiers, Brand Merchandising
o Meal Accountability, Inventory Management
o Vendor Accountability, Product Ordering and Receiving
o Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points
o Customer Service
o Pre and Post Production Planning
o Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Hot and Cold Holding Food Temperatures
o Inventory Counting
o Child Adult Care Food Program
o Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Allergen Training
o Food Presentation
o Recipe Compliance
o Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Food Bourne Illnesses
o Marketing, Menu Promotions
o Batch Cooking
o Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Validating Expiration Dates
o Food Waste Management
o Dietary Accommodations
o Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Pest Control Requirements
o Inventory Management – First In First Out Practices
o Labor Management
o Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Cooking Temperatures
o Chemical Hazard
o Receiving Food Deliveries
o Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Menu Compliance
o Food Cost Controls
o Menu Development
May Kitchen Lead Training
o Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Food Labels
o Safety Inspections
o Meal Accountability
OUR PLAN TO MEET PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS REQUIREMENTS
We follow USDA-defined learning objectives for nutrition, administrative, communication and marketing, and operations standards. Our training material is fully compliant with Professional Standards requirements. These trainings are tracked in our site -based training tracker. The learning objectives that we focus on include:
• Nutrition Menu Planning (1100) – Efficiently plan and prepare standardized recipes, cycle menus and meals, including the use of USDA Foods, to meet all Federal school nutrition program requirements, including proper meal components.
• Nutrition Education (1200) – Utilize resources to prepare and integrate age/gradeappropriate nutrition education curriculum with school nutrition programs.
• General Nutrition (1300) – Effectively utilize food preparation principles, production records, kitchen equipment and food crediting to prepare foods from standardized recipes, including those for special diets.
• Administration Free and Reduced-price Meal Benefits (3100) – Effectively certify, process, and verify free and reduced-price meal eligibility benefits in accordance with Federal and State regulations related to nutrition programs. Understand and apply Community Eligibility (CE) to eliminate the administrative burden of school meal applications and be able to serve meals at no charge.
• Program Management (3200) – Effectively manage staff and resources; prepare for yearly
• Administrative Reviews and emergency programs; utilize Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
• Financial Management (3300) – Manage procedures and records for compliance with Resource Management with efficiency and accuracy in accordance with all Federal, State and local regulations, as well as the Administrative Review.
• Human Resources and Staff Training (3400) - Implement human resources management practices through maintenance and familiarity with current personnel policies and procedures and support employees through training and retention strategies.
• Facilities and Equipment Planning (3500) – Develop plans that include involvement with school and community members, empower school nutrition leaders and ensure excellent customer service.
• Operations Food Production (2100) – Effectively utilize food preparation principles, production records, kitchen equipment and food crediting to prepare foods from standardized recipes, including those for special diets.
IMPROVED NUTRITION COMPLIANCE
DCPS can trust that our on-site management team has a complete and thorough understanding of the necessary operating standards needed to meet or exceed federal and DCPS guidelines. Our entire team is focused on improving communication while exceeding your expectations, delivering higher-quality nutritious meals to every student every day. Our One Team approach prioritizes collaboration between FNS, parents, guardians, on-site team members, and dietitians to improve our process and support dietary accommodation requests more effectively.
We will focus on improved communication procedures to sustain the highest level of safety, quality, service excellence, and accountability by continuously using the Standard Operating Procedures Dietary Accommodations SOP. We have implemented continued monitoring of this process with random school accommodation auditing by our on-site Dietitian to assure proper preparation, management, and procedures are being followed correctly.
Proactively Meet Updated USDA School Nutrition Standards
Sodexo serves over 23,000 wholesome breakfast and lunch meals to students across Washington, DC. These meals ensure each student has the nutrition they need to excel in and outside of the classroom. In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) announced updated nutrition standards for school meals that will be gradually rolled out over the next few years. We have proactively met the Fall 2025 standards already and are committed to continue with reduction in sodium and added sugars throughout this next year.
Our communication plan is intended to create touchpoints with the school community and our FNS partners throughout the school year. Each element of our communication plan supports creating awareness, increasing education, and driving participation. Our proactive approach will keep our students, parents, and school communities informed of all the great activities planned within the student nutrition program.
Our School Community Communications
Nutrislice
On-going
Big City Bites
Sensational Sandwiches
Bi-Weekly
Wellness Education
On-going
Super Bites Semester
Social Media Weekly/Daily
Menus, Nutritional Information, Web & app-based platforms.
Channels: Print Materials in School Cafeterias, Social Media, District Website
Big-City Bites is an exciting promotion that celebrates the unique, authentic cuisines found in popular cities across North America, and the globe.
Channels: Print Materials in School Cafeterias, Social Media 2x Per Month, Nutrislice
serving healthy and delicious foods, our holistic wellness approach focuses on educating our students on what fuels their minds, bodies, and their lives. The key is to engage our students in a meaningful way that enhances their dining experience without detracting from their primary task at hand.
Channels: Print Materials in School Cafeterias, Social Media 1xPer Month, Nutrislice
Super Bites furthers the nutrition education of our students by encouraging trial, hopefully building to a lifetime of healthy dining choices.
Channels: Print Materials in School Cafeterias, Social Media 1xPer Month, Nutrislice
Channels: Print Materials in School Cafeterias, Social Media, Nutrislice
Key Stakeholder Communications
Engagement Reports
Monthly
Principal Partnership Alignment Semester
School Community Engagement
Our SodexoMagic leadership team will meet with the DCPS FNS team to discuss success stories, challenges, and opportunities pertinent to the District’s success. Through this engagement, stakeholders remain informed of accomplishments, financial performance, new initiatives, and other relevant issues. Consistent follow-up also helps establish key points of differentiation for your District within the community.
Channel: Via Microsoft Teams
Our Principals are our gateway to successfully reaching and engaging our students. Therefore, each Operations Manager will meet with each Principal at the beginning of every semester to discuss better ways to nourish our students, times, meal programs, etc.
Channels: In-person at the beginning of the semester.
When possible, we will regularly engage with community partners as needed, including catering special events and organizing activities that involve food and nutrition education. Strengthening the relationship with parents and the community (Open House, Back to School, PTO/PTA, etc)
School Newsletters
Supporting engagement of key stakeholders and advancing the District’s continued commitment to student well-being, we will incorporate our messaging and promotions into existing schools newsletters.
Channels: We will push our monthly calendar of events & promotions to the designated administrators for each school.
We’re helping to build a sense of belonging in our student learning environments by turning our student dining areas into a warm and welcoming environment for our students. Each year, our student dining programs and promotions constantly strive to evolve by introducing cultural innovations through our menus driven by students in our menu-mix boost school engagement with fun and exciting events centered around our programs and delight our students with a student-centric and food-focused mindset.
Students this year will be walking into new and exciting environments with the launch of our One Table food concept. We believe students of all ages appreciate a welcoming environment that makes the dining area a warm and inviting place for everyone. Below, you will see marketing fixture enhancements made in all of our schools.
Bancroft Elementary School
Powell Elementary School
We recognize the importance of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in the diets of our students. Fresh fruits and vegetables are high in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. They provide many health promoting benefits to our students, including protecting them against disease, strengthening their immune systems, ensuring healthy growth and development, and more. Super Bites furthers the nutrition education of our students by encouraging trial, hopefully building to a lifetime of healthy dining choices.
The ongoing emphasis on student health and well-being has made our wellness education promotion a critical aspect of our dining services program. In addition to serving healthy and delicious foods, our holistic wellness approach focuses on educating our students on what fuels their minds, bodies, and their lives. The key is to engage our students in a meaningful way that enhances their dining experience without detracting from their primary task at hand - EDUCATION.
There’s nothing quite like the excitement of traveling to popular cities across the United States and around the world, ready to discover all it has to offer. No matter what’s on your trip’s itinerary, one thing is for certain: You’ll never quite get a true taste of a popular destination until you’ve eaten like a local.
Big-City Bites is an exciting promotion that celebrates the unique, authentic cuisines found in popular cities across North America, and the globe. This fun and delicious promotional series will span all grade levels. BigCity Bites will be a yearly evolving promotional series where new cities and cuisines from around the world will be added creating ongoing excitement and variety for our students, faculty, and staff. Our final piece of advice? Enjoy the ride!
Food Days are special days designed to celebrate, educate, and highlight various food items throughout the year. No matter your age, holidays and celebrations typically bring a smile to your face and are oftern accompanies by delicious food, good friends and fun times. Today’s students are more diverse and culturally aware that previous generations. As part of our commitment to support diversity and inclusion efforts, we’re proug to offer special heritage month observances as part of our dining program.
Our holidays and celbrationscelebrations feature student fan favorites and other specialty items in a one-day limited time offer format to create excitement and variety throughout the monthly dining experience. Our goal is to ensure that our students experience the fun, flavors, and playfulness of these special events while learningn about history and the significance of each observance.
BIG CITY BITES 9/11-9/25
Our first stop on this culinary adventure is Charleston, South Carolina. This month, we will feature a Pulled Carolina BBQ Sandwich!
Pizza Day
NATIONAL PEPPERONI PIZZA DAY 9/20
What student doesn’t like pizza? So why not celebrate this fun and engaging holiday with a student favorite.
SUPER BITES 9/16
Throughout September, we are educating our students on the health benefits of Green Beans with delicious recipes to incorporate into their diet.
HIPANIC & LATINO HERITAGE MONTH
9/27
Our first cultural celebration of the new year is Hispanic & Latino Heritage Month. This year, we are highlighting some of our favorite recipes inspired by our longest tenured team members.
Jumpstart YOUR DAY!
JUMPSTART YOUR DAY
Our wellness education topic for September is centered around celebrating Better Breakfast Month. This month, we will feature some of our students’ favorite breakfast menu items.
BIG CITY BITES
10/2-10/23
Our next stop on this culinary journey brings us to Atlanta, GA By featuring a Crispy Chicken Pimento Cheese Sandwich on our menus, we are prepared to kick the sandals off our student’s flavor profiles.
SUPER BITES
10/14
This month, we are educating our students on the health benefits of Mushrooms with delicious recipes to incorporate it into their diet.
NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH WEEK 10/14 -10/18
NATIONAL TACO DAY 4
Celebrate the day the best way possible with Tacos for National Taco Day!.
Celebrate National School Lunch Week, focusing on the importance proper nutrition and well-being for our students while promoting daily learning. Join us as we highlight the significance of providing healthy meals in schools and the impact it has on students' growth and success!
Embrace TheJourney To Local
FARM TO SCHOOL MONTH
Students will embrace the journey of local eating through highlighting local farms that we’re partnering with to bring delicious foods your school district.
HALLOWEEN 10/31
Celebrate Halloween in a big way with delicious and healthy foods! Get ready for a day filled with spooky costumes, nutritious meals, and lots of surprises..
11/13
For the month of November, we will stop in Athens, Greece Our student’s taste palettes will be in for a huge surprise when we feature a Greek Chicken Shawarma on the menu.
11/11
In this month's educational focus, we're highlighting the health benefits of Beets for our students and sharing flavorful recipes that will inspire them to add this nutritious vegetable to their daily meals
This month, we will hide a Lucky Tray Day sticker at the bottom of a random tray. The student who discovers the sticker will be our special winner and the recipient of a special prize.
11/16
In honor of American Native/Alaska Native Heritage Month, we're celebrating by sharing some of our favorite recipes inspired by the rich culinary traditions of indigenous communities.
GRATITUDE MONTH
Celebrate #GratitudeMonth by cherishing the precious things that make your life special! � Embrace an attitude of positivity, kindness, and caring to spread joy and appreciation NATIONAL NACHO DAY 11/6
THANKSGIVING 11/31
During the Thanksgiving celebration at our schools, students will enjoy a festive time filled with gratitude, joy, and, of course, delicious food. In this special moment, we will create unforgettable memories together as we celebrate the significance of this beloved tradition.
BIG CITY BITES
SUPER BITES
BIG CITY BITES 12/11
Our next stop on this culinary adventure is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! This month, we will feature a favorite, a delicious Philly Chicken Cheesesteak on our menu.
SUPER BITES 12/16
This month, we are educating our students on the healthy benefits of Spinach with delicious recipes to incorporate it into their diet.
Tis The Seas n To Make The World A Brighter Place!
NATIONAL COOKIE DAY 12/4
Let's have some fun and make the most of Cookie Day! This Cookie Day celebration will get your students excited and enthused when they see what it's all "cookie" about.
SEASON OF GIVING
Embrace the Season Of Giving and let's make the world a brighter place together! This is the perfect time to share kindness, compassion, and generosity with those around us.
Our next stop on this culinary adventure is Tokyo, Japan! This month, we will feature a favorite, a delicious Chicken Katsu Sandwich on our menu.
This month, we are promoting our students' awareness of the health benefits of Collard greens through delicious recipes that incorporate this vegetable into their diet.
A SIMPLE FORMULA TO KEEP IN MIND
ENERGY IN & ENERGY OUT
Keep this equation in mind: Energy in, energy out, Let's teach our kids to make mindful choices, from fueling their bodies with nutritious foods to engaging in regular physical activity.
BIG CITY BITES 1/13
SUPER BITES 1/15
Healthy High School Challenge
The Healthy High School Challenge is an engaging event designed to increase student participation, reinforce the importance of making healthy food choices, and help build ongoing excitement around the dining program. Last year, High school programs around the country compete in a friendly competition to outperform each other by earning points for serving reimbursable meals and healthy a la carte snacks and beverages. The challenge also features a student recipe submission competition. We invite our high school students to submit their favorite grab-and-go recipes for entry into a national competition where the winning recipes are included in our district and national menus. We know our students are ready and up to the challenge!
Every year, our Future Chefs competition showcases the creativity and talent of our students. It’s never too early to teach our students how to make healthy food choices, master basic cooking skills, and engage in a little friendly competition. That’s the exact focus of our Future Chefs Challenge. It's a journey of learning and growth for our students. Elementary students around the country are practicing their culinary skills and competing with their peers in the hopes of being named the Future Chef National Champion. Participants submit their recipes based on a specific theme and compete in a district cook-off, with winners moving on to regional and national rounds with others across the country.
Last year, after the dust settled, Diya Daniels from Oyster Adams Elementary School went home as the DCPS Future Chefs Winner. This school year, Future Chefs is scheduled to take place in March of the 24/25 school year. In partnership with DCPS, we will follow up once we decide on a date and location.
Future chefs learn basic kitchen skills that will serve them well into their adult lives, including the following from Mom’s Kitchen Handbook:
• How to use a knife
• How to wash and cut vegetables and fruit
• How to make a salad
• How to cook grains
• How to roast vegetables
• How to cook a piece of chicken, fish, or meat in a pan
• How to make one simple pasta
• How to cook eggs
• How to bake something sweet
• How to clean the kitchen
240: District Kickoff
Hundreds of districts hold local competitions to select the top student chef for the district. This student then moves to regional judging.
40: Regional Winners
The top student chefs from district competitions are judged by a panel esteemed Sodexo chefs during this round. Only 5 finalists are selected to national judging
5: National Finalists
The top 5 student chefs in the country film cooking videos in preparation for national judging.
Final Voting
Public voting opens for our 5 student chef finalists!
Final Winner Announced
The national winner is announced after multiple rounds of judging!
Kitchen
Magic Kitchen Cooking Classes
With food insecurity on the rise in some of our most inspiring communities, nutrition education and access is more important now than ever. The Magic Kitchen monthly cooking series is a digital and in-person nutrition engagement experience for our students and our communities in which we serve. The curriculum is carefully curated by registered nutritionists and culinary experts and is designed to provide our students and their families with an immersive culinary and nutrition education experience.
At Magic Kitchen, students can explore food, culinary and nutrition literacy in ways that positively impact their food decisions, experiences, and performance for them and their families. This can impact their overall health measures, increase focus while in class, and maintain healthy eating habits for students and their families. For students who can’t make this fun and exciting in-person class, they will be ableto join in on the nutrition experience via our various social media platforms as we uniquely introduce NEW menu options. With this data, we can better meet the needs of our community.
It helps improve morale, productivity, and creativity. It’s a place to actively engage in your wellness initiatives. The Magic Kitchen provides fundamental culinary skills to students who have never cooked for themselves. Each teaching module integrates health, science and anthropology/social studies aspects, making the Magic Kitchen a living laboratory for the community. Lastly, because we focus on the inherently healthy foods of a wide variety of cultures around the world, Magic Kitchen participants increase their appreciation of world cuisines and cultures.
Tasting Stations
There’s nothing like seeing your food being cooked right in front of you. Tasting Stations not only allow our students to build amazing relationships with the culinarian behind their food, this is also an opportunity for our student to explore new flavors and learn new techniques. We are working with various Principals across the District to plan.
Creating Fine Dining Experiences
The Fine Dining program is designed to expose students to a formal lunch setting while encouraging good conduct, etiquette and social skills. These events reinforce our student well-being pillar of achievement and strengthen the relationships with our client partners. This year, we will plan to 8 Fine Dining Experiences. We will work with FNS and School Administrators to schedule and execute these learning experiences for students.
Community Eligibility Program
A non-pricing meal service option for schools and school districts in low-income areas. CEP allows the nation’s highest poverty schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications.
Breakfast in the Classroom
In addition to the traditional, cafeteria-based breakfast model, schools may also consider an alternative breakfast model. For example, “Breakfast in the Classroom” involves serving the breakfast meal to children during a morning class, often while the teacher is taking attendance or giving classroom announcements.
Grab and Go Breakfast
Grab and Go Breakfast stations offer students healthy and nutritious meal along with speed of service. Students are provided with healthy breakfast options to help fuel their start to a day of learning and development.
Promotions
Our promotions calendar is created to break the monotony of our services, while allowing us to engage our students with seasonal celebrations and menu items, cultural highlights, and limited-time offerings.
Fast Takes
Today’s student customers bring discerning tastes and high expectations. Delivering a retail experience with a reimbursable meal environment, Fast Takes is a Grab & Go program with resources are designed to help you provide a consistently positive customer experience.
Warm & Welcoming Environments
Our marketing and branding mission is to provide solutions that help children succeed. We should strive for Operational Excellence, Employee Development and have a Solutions Mindset while speaking about accountability, compliance and collaboration. Through One Table, we bring this mission together to deliver excellent services to our students.
After School Snacks
The ASSP is not only an investment in the health of the child but it’s a way for us to make sure that he or she can take full advantage of the valuable enrichment activities and we are helping close the achievement gap with the students
Dinner
Children living in low-income communities, who may not consume healthy food beyond what they receive in school. For parents overwhelmed by the demands of work schedules, no food at home or other circumstances, dinners provided by after-school programs can lift some burden off the student and parents’ shoulders.
We’re actively engaging with our guests and our managers are committed to spending time talking with our schools to develop quantitative and qualitative data on satisfaction, value, student preferences, and culinary innovations. We want our students to know that we hear them. As a result, we have developed a comprehensive ongoing feedback strategy with multiple touchpoints to help us understand the unique needs of our schools. With new innovations such as the adoption of Nutrislice, Taste Tests, and Captured, we are poised for overdelivering on the student experience! So why should we? Our feedback strategy for Paterson Public Schools is intended to create continuous touchpoints throughout the year to better understand the needs and wants of our students and other stakeholders within our schools. This approach will allow us to gain qualitative and quantitative feedback to aid us in finding innovative ways to serve our schools community and making strategic and profitable business decisions as partners.
The data derived from our feedback strategy will allow us to accurately measure our services and constantly enhance our student dining experience.
Table Talks Weekly
Student Advisory Meetings/Groups
“Nutrition Advisory Committee”
MyDtxt On-going
Customer Satisfaction Surveys Semester
Principal Surveys Semester
Manager/Leads table touches will be a part of every service day. Managers/ Leads will be committed to performing table touches during peak hours to speak with students about their experiences and collect feedback regarding menu prefernce, satisfaction, and to get a better understanding of trending taste profiles that our community desires.
Student Advisory Meetings and Student Advisory Groups provide valuable insights into student preferences, expectations, and allow for the Student Nutrition team to collect feedback and provide updates as it relates to the food service operations.
MyDtxt is a text messaging solution developed exclusively for Sodexo by ProTexting. This text service allows opt-in subscribers to stay in the know by receiving text alerts regarding food updates, news, and menu modifications. (Intended for high school and adult use only).
How are we doing? The Customer Satisfaction Survey process lets us know. With parent, student, and faculty versions, the Customer Satisfaction Survey is our most powerful tool to hear every customer’s voice. Done every November & April, our timing lets customers experience our services while also giving us a chance to take action before the next semester.
These surveys allow us to gain feedback from our principals on school specific initiatives and activities.
DCPS proudly launched this application-based menu software in May 2024.
