win a free pizza for Trivia Thursday, all other students who want restaurant pizza must purchase it themselves.
Rockwood cafeterias selling pizza from a local restaurant is not a new occurrence.
“I believe it began in the early 1990s due to the popularity of the item and to increase participation in the [food service] program,” Carmen Fischer, director of Rockwood Child Nutrition Services (CNS), said. “The price of the pizza is comparable to what you would pay when stores run their specials.”
Although restaurant pizza has been served for more than 15 years in Rockwood, why the cafeteria charges $2.25 for a single slice when entire pizzas are purchased for $5.95 to $6 each remains a mystery to Connor Jenkins, freshman.
Jenkins buys pizza about twice a week, and usually buys on restaurant pizza days.
Although Jenkins is not the one paying for it, he said he thought the prices should be lowered.
Jenkins’ parents have complained to him about how expensive buying the pizza is at school, but told him that as long as he was watching what he ate and was making healthy choices it was alright.
Fischer said the price the cafeteria charges for a slice of pizza is fair compared to the prices of the other entrees, but like Jenkins’ parents, she takes into account the health factor.
An a la carte slice of restaurant pizza at $2.25 is more expensive than the pizza served in a whole meal, which costs $2.75, in an effort to encourage students to choose a lunch with more nutritional value. This tactic seems to have worked. On September 23, 1,600 slices were ordered at MHS, and only 576 of them were sold a la carte.
Despite the fact that restaurant pizza is not the healthiest item on the menu, Fischer said she doesn’t foresee stopping the sales anytime soon.
“Restaurant pizza is one of our highest days of participation,” Fischer said.
The profits made from pizza sales, like all other profits made by CNS, are used all throughout the district.
“Rockwood Child Nutrition is a self-funded department,” Fischer said. “We use our profits to purchase better food items, equipment and serving lines for the kitchens.”
CNS has spent $1 million annually on new equipment, but in the 2009-2010 school-year they cut down to approximately $400,000. Over the summer, the fryers in MHS’s kitchen were removed and replaced with two Rational Combi ovens as well as a steamer. The ovens cost $25,259.34 each and the steamer cost $10,714.66, said Rebecca Morris, Rockwood Warehouse secretary.
CNS also uses the money to pay indirect cost back to the district, purchase different permits necessary to run the cafeteria and buy more expensive food items. From the profits they make, they are able to continue purchasing restaurant pizza, as well as other items like the bagels from St. Louis Bread Co. that are made slightly smaller to fit Rockwood’s nutritional guidelines.
However, Jenkins said he doesn’t think that CNS efficiently uses the profits. He said the fact that CNS uses profits to buy new kitchen equipment is ridiculous considering the fact that the food they serve is “garbage”, and since they purchase it from restaurants anyway, they should start serving food from places like Taco Bell or Qdoba. He also suggested more variety in the menu by serving foods like Chinese food or hummus.
To Fischer, that is easier said than done.
“The amount of profit we make on restaurant pizza is not as significant as one might believe,” she said. “Restaurant pizza is our most expensive entrée to purchase and student theft of the pizza eats away at the profits.”
Every time Rockwood serves restaurant pizza, about 4 percent of the profits are lost due to students eating slices of pizza before checking out, or partially eating slices and then returning them to the serving line.
“[The pizza] is cold, smaller, and it’s just not worth the money,” Jenkins said.
As much as students like Jenkins and their parents hope for lower prices, it is unlikely they will get their wish.
