5. Create a menu advisory council
Before new menu items are served to students at Detroit Public Schools, they must first get approval from the district’s menu advisory council. The council meets once a month and is made up of students, teachers, parents, staff and other stakeholders.
During council meetings, district chefs serve samples of a potential menu addition and share a bit about it. If the council approves, the dish is then sampled at schools throughout the district to get student feedback and to determine whether it can be easily replicated at each of the district’s kitchens. If the menu item continues to do well, it's officially rolled out district-wide.
While testing is a long process, it allows the nutrition team to gain a lot of data and to be sure that the new dish will do well once it’s officially added to the menu, says Assistant Director of Culinary Services Kevin Frank.