Lunch menu subject to change: Supply chain disruptions force school’s kitchen to be flexible

RANDOLPH — When Heather Reimers makes out the monthly menu for Randolph Public Schools she’s essentially making a guess and hoping for the best. Never before have the words “menu subject to

Never before have the words “menu subject to change” hit home more for the school’s kitchen manager and two staff who prepare 235 meals each school day for students and staff.

“It just varies week to week,” she said. “One week might be good, the next week not. There are supply issues just like going to the store. They might have it this week, they might not and it all stems back from COVID. I haven’t seen issues like this before prior to the start of the pandemic in 2020.”

Reimers said she’s learned to “make do” with what she has and what she can get, utilizing up to three vendors for her weekly order.

“If one vendor can’t get something, I go on to the next,” she said, sometimes relying on Jim’s Food Center in town for items, but the grocery store is facing the same kind of supply chain issues. For Reimers, “making do” sometimes means

For Reimers, “making do” sometimes means changing the entree originally planned for the day. For example, the menu may list breaded pork but Reimers’ three vendors can’t supply it, so she’ll switch it out for breaded beef.

Whole-grain items have been difficult to obtain with the buns used previously at the school no longer available to order. “Breakfast items have been a big hit and

“Breakfast items have been a big hit and miss and we’ve been struggling with that,” Reimers said, since the grab-and-go breakfast option at the elementary mainly consists of pre-packaged food like peanut butter and jelly, breakfast bars and the like. A recall from Tyson on its chicken at

A recall from Tyson on its chicken at the start of the school year is still causing shortages with certain chicken products currently.

“I use it (Tyson chicken) in our crispitos, which is like a rolled taco with chicken filling. The kids really like it. I menued it twice and haven’t been able to get it,” Reimers said.

A vendor may substitute an item that’s out of stock for something deemed to be similar.

“The substitutes are not the same and I’m left with ‘Oh my gosh what are we going to do?’ It’s been on a rare occasion but it has happened,” she said.

Reimers has also found herself making more meals from scratch and tries to be as nimble as possible.

“This week so far every day, it’s been scratch cooking when I can plan on what I know I * Knights of Columbus ranked #6 in the permanent life insura have,” she partnered said. with Statista to independently survey more than 16,000 cus

She isn’t complaining though as she knows the minor disruptions and inconveniences now could be worse and she got a taste of it back when the COVID-19 pandemic category on Forbes first 2022 erupted America’s Best in Insurance spring Companies 2020. list. Forbes ce WHAT WE

“We owned had at least to serve one insurance everything policy across pre-packaged 7 insurance product categories. - fruits omers who and all of that,” Reimers said. “Then we really had a supply issue because every school was trying to get the same products and you couldn’t get it. That compounded, and that really hasn’t changed.” R

Along with some food items unavailable, Reimers struggled to find a vendor to provide the pre-packaged cutlery required at that R time, spray disinfectant for tables and Clorox wipes, lest anyone forget last year’s toilet paper shortage. . While Reimers is sufficiently stocked on T.

While Reimers is sufficiently stocked on disinfectant and cutlery now, supply chain T. issues persist on some non-food items. “For soup, the 10-ounce foam bowl, I

“For soup, the 10-ounce foam bowl, I haven’t been able to get that for a couple of months,” she said.

She said she usually has a week’s lead time if a menu change needs to occur and families have been understanding of changes to the monthly meal calendar.

For the second year in a row, the Randolph Public Schools have served meals at no charge to enrolled students as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Seamless Summer Option - typically only available during summer months but expanded nationwide during the academic year as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. DO BEST.

“We’re feeding more kids now and it just takes more food,” she said.