March 7—During the last couple of years, school officials in Del Mar, Calif., have revamped their lunch program with the help of an outside company to try to add choices, improve nutrition and break even financially.
The effort has paid off, they say. For the first time in years, enough students are buying lunch for the Del Mar Union School District to pay all of their cafeteria workers and other expenses and still have some left over. The number of children buying lunch has steadily increased since the district stopped contracting with the San Dieguito Union High School District for meals two years ago and went with the Northern California-based Choicelunch instead. They shot up even more this year, since the district reworked the contract with the company to include more choices and an online ordering options.