School Meals Matter Blog

School Nutrition is a busy world. Email may not feel like a priority, but in today’s workplace, people form opinions based on what they experience—whether messages are acknowledged, how long they wait, and whether work moves forward or stalls. With less face-to-face and phone communication, the usual cues of body language and tone of voice are often missing. When that happens, the brain fills in the gaps and sometimes assumes the worst. How you handle your email says a lot a

Any conversation about higher wages has to start with the budget. Raises don’t happen just because the work is hard. They happen when the program can afford them. In school nutrition, strong budgets are built through strong participation—and participation is driven by professional decisions made every day. School nutrition is not simple. Every decision has a financial impact. What’s on the menu affects whether students choose the meal. How students are treated affects whether

The holidays bring excitement, special events, and moments of joy—but they also bring stress. Routines change, classrooms feel different, and emotions run higher for both students and staff. Some students carry worries we never see, and many struggle with the unpredictability this season brings. In the middle of all that, the cafeteria becomes one of the most steady, comforting places in their day. That’s why the holiday season is a time when school nutrition teams should do

Filling open positions in school nutrition programs is harder than ever, but your best recruiters may already be on the payroll. Employees know the job, the schedule, and the culture better than anyone—and they’re connected to parents, retirees, students, and community members who value flexible school-day work. By offering a clear incentive, such as a $100–$250 bonus once a new hire completes 90 days, you turn your team’s pride and word-of-mouth into a powerful hiring engine