The beginning of the 2015-16 school year is the rallying point for some of the U.S. potato industry’s newest marketing plans and campaigns. The U.S. Potato Board (USPB) School Nutrition Program has officially launched to reach the 55.5 million strong—and growing—school students who are part of the “Salad Generation.”
This youngest generation, a cohort stretching from newborns to age 23, represents the next generation of potato consumers and makes up about 32 percent of the U.S. population. Where better to reach, teach and instruct the salad generation about the health and nutrition of potatoes than in their schools, where 5 billion meals are served annually?
The USPB School Nutrition Program is a new initiative that will fulfill a major role within the USPB’s marketing program and will be led by Meredith Myers, USPB global nutrition marketing manager. The objective is straightforward: to increase healthy potato offerings at schools. Ultimately, this new direction is meant to drive new and exciting uses of U.S. potatoes on school meals.
This new campaign was kicked off at the School Nutrition Association’s 69th Annual National Conference last month in Salt Lake City, where 2,300 school nutrition and foodservice professionals—some of the most influential voices and key decision makers for school district menus—were in attendance. The centerpiece of the USPB booth was a farmers’ market salad bar, which was merchandised each day with a different theme, and at which the featured potato dish was sampled (smoky chipotle, creamy buttermilk ranch and French Dijon potato salads, respectively).
“Hundreds of school foodservice professionals stopped to talk about Potatoes Raise the Bar,” Myers explained. “They love potatoes. Their kids love potatoes. So they are eager to get more information about how potatoes can boost meal participation and increase consumption of vegetables in their schools.”
The USPB hired Ketchum Communications, an agency with extensive experience in school foodservice marketing, to help reach this new, young target consumer. The team includes chef and registered dietitian Garrett Berdan, a well-known, highly respected consultant in this market. The school nutrition program will provide useful resources and tools to school foodservice professionals, including:
- Online toolkit (PotatoesRaiseTheBar.com)
- Flavorful and innovative recipes
- Merchandising for salad bars and the cafeteria
- Nutrition information and handouts
- A blog dedicated to showcasing how schools are using potatoes to raise the bar on their meals
- Monthly e-newsletters
- Information from a USPB-facilitated pilot study to gauge how a school with all the USPB merchandising and information and an industry-donated salad bar might use potatoes differently on their menus
Potato Friendly Salad Bar Challenge
The USPB School Nutrition Program supports the industry’s Potato Friendly Salad Bar Challenge, which was unveiled by USPB president and CEO Blair Richardson at Potato Expo 2015 in Orlando, Fla., earlier this year. The salad bar challenge is a U.S. potato industry initiative to connect more kids to healthy potato meals in school lunch programs across the nation. As of Aug. 5, 22 salad bars had been donated as a result of the industry’s challenge.
Students in grades K through 12 eat over 5 billion school lunches each year, and one more serving of potatoes equates to 3,750,000 hundredweight fresh weight equivalent. For every salad bar donated, the USPB plans to match the donation. Growers and other industry professionals may sign up today and join the challenge or email questions to saladbars@uspotatoes.com.