Food Service - Bernice Ray Elementary

2019-20 Food Service Information

2019-20 Food Service Information

Freshpicks_Cafe

August 19, 2019

Dear Parent or Guardian:

Fresh Picks Café is pleased and proud to have been invited to manage your school’s Food Service Program for the 2019-20 school year. Fresh Picks Café (a Café Services company) is a locally owned and operated company dedicated to serving delicious, wholesome, quality meals to school aged children through New England. Through your district’s partnership with Fresh Picks Café your community will enjoy the following programs and improvements:

1.) Menus: We will continue to offer online, interactive menus for your school district, currently provided through Nutrislice. You now have the option to download the Nutrislice app to your mobile device and check your student’s menu choices daily. Ingredients, allergen and nutritional data for all items served can be viewed from this app. Interactive menus are also available online and can be viewed and printed using the link on your school web page.

Students and staff of the Ray School will have access to the following lunch menu choices –

Signature Picks Our premier concept featuring entrees ranging from traditional favorites like pizza and mac n’ cheese to international fare and to cutting edge culinary concepts such as Chicken & Roasted Yam Power Bowls and the “Stuffed” Baked Potato Bar.

Deli Picks Offering a wide range of fresh made foods ready for grab n’ go convenience with items ranging from yogurt parfaits and smoothies to fresh made deli sandwiches featuring Boar’s Head brand deli meats.

Salad Picks Offering a full salad bar daily and seasonal homemade soups. Our Lunchbox line of entrees is also included within this concept. Designed to have the appeal of “Lunchables”, these bento box style entrees are made fresh daily with healthy & local ingredients and served in reusable packaging to minimize waste.

Side Picks offers a wide selection of fruit, vegetable and healthy grains sides included with any of our daily entrees so that students can choose a full, nutritious meal. All lunch meals are served with a choice of lowfat (1%), skim or chocolate lowfat milk.

2.) Meal Assistance Program: Although the Ray School does not participate in the National School Lunch Program, Free and Reduced applications can be submitted all year long as the Hanover School District does provide assistance to families in need. Forms can be secured by contacting Della Domingue at 603-643-6655 ext. 2272 or via e-mail at della.domingue@rayschool.org . Students receiving meal assistance are able to enjoy all of our menu options and full range of services with complete confidence that our systems maintain the highest level of privacy and respect for all.

3.) Automated Point of Sale System: The Ray School uses MyMealTime for online payments. This is the same system that has been in place at the school in previous school years. Any funds that students had in the system at the end of the 2018-19 school year will be carried over and available during the 2019-20 school year. Parents will have two methods to fund their student’s account.

Option 1. Online Payments – If you already have an established account on the MyMealTime website you can continue to use that account uninterrupted. If you need to set up a new account you can visit the MyMealTime website and follow directions for “Create a New Profile” or obtain instructions from the Fresh Picks Café website on the “Ray School” link. Payments processed through the website do incur a convenience fee. In addition to providing you with a secure online payment option, the system provides access to a wide range of free services including allowing you instant access to details on what your child is purchasing in the cafeteria as well as other convenient features such as automatic low balance alerts.

Option 2. You may send a check with your child made payable to the Hanover School District. Please make sure to include the child’s name in the memo line. We encourage parents to either utilize the online payment method or to send in a check – cash can also be accepted but is discouraged at the elementary school level.

Prepaid monies deposited by either method can be used for any purchases in the cafeteria, but at any time parents may contact the school food service supervisor and request that prepaid monies be used only for full meal purchases.

4.) Credit Procedure: Fresh Picks Café never denies any student a full, nutritious meal. We do follow your school board approved meal payment procedures. Every student will always be provided with a full meal, but snack and a la carte items are only available when a student’s food service account has a positive balance. We will work with your school and SAU administration to ensure that communication of student account balance information is timely, compassionate and respectful of your family’s privacy. Methods of communication for meal program accounts with negative balances could include regular notifications by e-mail, mail and/or telephone. Please refer to SAU 70’s healthy food policy (policy EFA) for further information.

5.) Student Allergy / Special Needs Identification: If your student has a medically documented food allergy or special need when it comes to food, your food service director will work closely with the school nurse and other personnel to ensure that your child’s specific needs are met. Our team of Registered Dietitians is available as a resource to your school personnel to assist in planning service to students with dietary restrictions. Please contact your food service director with details.

7.) Local Purchasing & Green Initiatives: Fresh Picks Café has a robust local purchasing policy, and buys from local farms and food producers as much as possible. During the 2018-19 school year in our service to students at Hanover High School we were able to provide produce from local farms including Blue Ox, Killdeer, Long Wind Crossroads, Ames Acres, Rock Bottom, Hurricane Flats, Thistle Hill, MacLennan and Yates, as well from other local producers like Green Mountain Creamery. We plan to implement this same local purchasing program for the Ray School.

We also plan to implement the same waste reduction initiative we have in place at Hanover High School. This initiative is based around reducing the use of disposable packaging and service ware to the greatest extent possible and using only recyclable and/or compostable disposable products when necessary.

More can be learned about Fresh Picks Café by visiting our website http://www.freshpickscafe.com , on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/freshpickscafe or by following us on Twitter @freshpickscafe.

Bernice A. Ray School Food Service Director:

Brad Frederick 603-643-6655 ext. 2701 bradfrederick@hanovernorwichschools.org