Long-serving Mukwonago food service director outlines post-retirement options: stay self-operated or contract out

Pam Harris, the district’s food service director of nearly 30 years, presented the board on March 18 with a review of program history, recovery since COVID and a set of options for operations after her planned retirement at the end of the school year.

Harris reviewed the Central Kitchen’s scratch-made production, recent menu innovations (Asian entrees, pot stickers, Mac and Cheese Bar), and student outreach such as tasting events and a long-running partnership that placed Mount Mary dietetic interns in the district. She said students are eating more fruit and vegetables than in earlier years and recounted federal grants and community partnerships that have supported school meals.

On operational choices, Harris and district staff reported visiting nearby districts and management companies. Harris said the district can likely remain self-operated and replicate many practices offered by management firms, but she also listed several options the board could authorize the district to pursue: a modest increase in lunch prices to fund higher-quality whole-muscle chicken and other items; adding one full-time chef position to lead recipe development and catering; implementing tiered pricing at the high school to allow premium items alongside a base meal; offering a third entrée option at elementary schools (for example a cold sandwich option); and expanding ala carte snack sales at the middle school where permitted.

Harris noted practical constraints and next steps: finishing physical cafeteria improvements (decor and new equipment), adding one staffer to manage a snack shop at the high school, consulting with elementary principals before adding an entrée choice, and returning to the board with cost estimates and suggested price changes for the 2024–25 school year. She recommended tabling consideration of removing the federal National School Lunch Program from the high school for next year because of timing, and said any decision about leaving federal program participation would require budgeting to cover free-and-reduced meals that federal reimbursements currently support.

Board members heard the options and directed staff to prepare financial estimates and implementation plans for review at future meetings. Harris said she would provide updates in board materials and via Friday updates leading into focused discussions next month.

What happens next: staff will calculate price-impact scenarios and staffing needs and return to the board for decisions; no formal change in the food service model was adopted at the March 18 meeting.