Lincoln Considers Outsourcing Food Service

LINCOLN — Lincoln Board of Education is considering a proposal to contract with an outside agency to manage the school’s food service program.

“We are looking at it in particular because it would increase the choices for students,” said Superintendent Mary Ann Spears, noting that only a few districts in Arkansas contract their food service, compared to the traditional way of hiring a nutrition director and workers to manage a food service program.

She said the recommendation is not a financial one because the district’s food service is in the black and not losing money. However, she said the district has high turnover with nutrition employees. In January,

the Lincoln Board of Education accepted the resignation of two cafeteria workers and another one resigned in February.

Besides food, other costs associated with the district’s food service are matching salary benefits and insurance. The district would save on those costs by outsourcing the service, Spears said.

Contracting the food service would be a “win-win situation” for the district, Spears said, adding she told cafeteria staff about the idea last fall so they would not be surprised by any decisions. If the board decides to go ahead with the proposal Spears said she believes an outside firm would consider hiring the school’s nutrition workers.

An outside company would be in charge of all nutrition services, including ordering food, cooking and serving food and employing workers. Lincoln would pay for the service.

The Arkansas Department of Education has approved Lincoln’s application to request bid proposals from food service management companies. The School Board OK’d the process in the fall but has not made a final decision yet on whether to outsource the service.

“We’re not locked into anything,” Spears told board members at their February meeting. “At some point, you can make a decision.”

So far, only three firms have requested bid information, Spears said Thursday. The timeline, which is set forth by the Department of Education, says bids are due April 24 and the bid opening will be April 28. If the School Board moves ahead with the recommendation, it would select a firm May 15. Spears said seven companies are approved by the state to submit bid proposals on a food service program.

Bentonville is currently the only school district in northwest Arkansas that does not use the traditional way of providing student meals, according to Sterling Bing, executive director of finance. Bentonville has used Aramark for seven years and is pleased with the service.

“It has been a good partnership with Aramark,” Bing said.

Aramark operates the program with a profit, has improved the quality of food and has increased student participation, Bing said. Another benefit, he added, is that students have more food choices.

The school district retained responsibility for the program and approves free and reduced lunch applications, Bing said. Aramark’s responsibilities are to procure food, prepare and serve the food and hire employees. In the contract, Aramark also agreed to cater events. It uses a separate menu at a “very reasonable cost” to cater for school events and for school organizations, Bing said.

Bentonville’s fee is based on the number of meals served by Aramark. Bing said Bentonville has 14,400 students and in January served an average of more than 11,000 meals per day.

Kimberly Friedman with Department of Education said 12 districts in the state are contracting with a food service management company and 13 districts are in the process of procuring a food service contract for the 2015-16 school year.