Just as many other food-server brethren – chefs, short-order cooks and menu developers for chains – are doing, directors of school meal programs are adjusting their menus in an effort to mitigate some of the effects of the current supply chain situation.
And while the supply chain’s multitude of causes and an equal number of effects have hit virtually every industry, it’s worth noting that the onion industry remains poised to provide food markets with an item that is essential to just about every menu.
In its Oct. 25 online edition, supplychaindrive.com took a comprehensive look at school meal programs in a story titled “Supply chain woes hit school foodservice departments.” The story can be accessed at
Writer Anna Merod addressed a problem that hit the nation’s schools at the onset of the 2021-22 school year. She wrote, “Since August, schools across the U.S. have been missing breakfast and lunch items more frequently due to major supply chain disruptions that have left staff scrambling to replace items and change menus.”
Merod noted that since classes began, Chesapeake Public Schools in Virginia had been dealing with shortages daily and adjusting cafeteria meals as a result. Larry Wade, director of nutrition for the district’s 45 schools and some 40,000 students, said the supply chain issues have caused delivery delays and shortages from food items that never arrive.
The story continued, “Chesapeake students don’t have to worry if they will get a meal at school — but there’s no guarantee they will be served the exact food advertised on the menu for that day, Wade said.
However, if a time comes when there’s not enough food available because of supply chain shortages, Wade said he will consider shopping at Costco or other bulk stores to get what his schools need to feed students.”
And shopping at bulk grocery stores, the story said, “… will more than likely impact the district’s food budget, because items may cost more there than from distributors who put in competitive bids to work with schools, he said.”
Wade was quoted as saying, “There’s that point of no return where you’ve shifted menus, you’ve changed menus, you’ve used what you had in stock, and if things don’t come in the back door we have to look at alternate means of getting the food we need to serve our students.”
In late September the USDA announced it would provide $1.5 billion for schools to purchase commodities for student meals in an effort to offset some of the supply chain disruptions, the story continued.
It added, “On top of that, USDA also recently waived financial penalties for any meal pattern shortcomings caused by supply chain issues. The department further permitted school districts to enter into emergency, noncompetitive procurement contracts with companies for the 2021-22 school year. This allows schools to make last-minute purchases at grocery stores if need be.”
Merod also reported that although the supply chain situation has gotten worse over the past several months, the School Nutrition Association was voicing concerns from “a majority of 1,368 school nutrition directors” who had been surveyed.
“An overwhelming 97 percent of school nutrition directors were already worried about pandemic supply chain disruptions, the survey discovered.
In fact, supply chain disruptions have been requiring more labor and time since the beginning of this school year from the team at Merrillville Community School Corporation in Indiana, according to foodservice director Angelica Claiborne. Like in the Chesapeake Public Schools, menu items are changing on the fly daily for the eight schools in her 6,000-student district, Claiborne said. The range of missing items includes everything from breakfast and lunch ingredients to disposable gloves, she added.”
The story said that Claiborne and her staff “have been taking their work home because of extra work in managing out-of-stock items and finding replacements,” and it went on to note, “In another effect from the pandemic, USDA has continued to permit all U.S. school districts to offer free meals to all students, no matter their family’s income, through the 2021-22 school year. Both Wade and Claiborne said this increased access to free school meals has heightened the need for food and supplies in schools as well.”
The upshot is that the “waiver ‘is definitely helping [schools] to reach more kids and feed more kids,’ Claiborne said.” And she was quoted as, “If the supply chain issue was not here, it would be a perfect situation.”
The School Nutrition Association, Merod wrote, “pointed to creative solutions school districts are using to overcome supply chain disruptions. For instance, some are streamlining menus to take advantage of the food on hand, ensuring all students are fed, and reducing waste. Schools are also trying to improve communication with vendors to identify any missing items — before trucks arrive — and better identify what food shortages may be ahead.”
And the association also said that schools “are even turning to local restaurants, suppliers, and vendors to fill in gaps,” Merod’s story said. “With a labor shortage affecting the number of truck drivers on the roads, food deliveries to schools have fallen off, too. So some districts are finding themselves transporting items dropped off by distributors from central locations, such as warehouses, to individual schools.”
Larry Wade said one of his district’s major concerns is the lack of staffing, and he noted he needs an additional 72 staffers in the Chesapeake nutrition program.
He told Merod that Chesapeake serves “10,000 more meals per day compared to the same time last year when there were fewer students going to class in-person.” In 2020 approximately 7,500 students were given either in-person or pickup meals each day, “But this year, Wade estimates nearly 17,000 meals were served daily in September.
With no end in sight to the nation’s supply chain woes, Wade remains hopeful his and other school divisions will pull through and even learn from the situation.”
Merod concluded with a quote from Wade: “Out of this will come a new way of doing business, a new approach to making things work for our children and providing healthy and nutritious meals. School nutrition has lasted because it’s been resilient.”
