The taste tests gave our menu and recipe development team valuable feedback about items currently on our menus and new breakfast and lunch foods under consideration for next fall.
Since joining CKC Good Food in November, Chris Keim, CFPM, DTR, Recipe & Nutrition Coordinator, has learned to be open to feedback. “I can’t have preconceived notions when considering menu changes,” she said. “Adults and kids have different palates. Some foods I think kids will like have not been well received and others have been huge hits.”
When creating new recipes, Chris considers what kids are likely eating at home and branches out, hoping new spins on familiar foods will encourage kids to try new foods and expand their tastes. Through feedback and monitoring participation numbers, Chris and the menu team have learned that ethnic foods are best offered on our culturally influenced menus or by schools that specifically request them rather than our standard menu rotation.
Taste-Test Findings
Here are some insights we gained – or were reinforced – through our tours and discussions with school groups this spring:
Hot Breakfast Reigns
We know based on participation numbers that hot school breakfast is most popular with students of all ages. We heard that repeatedly from the students who participated in our taste tests.
This further reinforces our recommendation that any client partner who can, should install a Cook & Hold, a self-contained oven that doesn’t require an exhaust hood in a kitchen. That single piece of equipment can elevate the quality of your food service program and entice participation. Simply warming up a muffin, cinnamon roll or boli makes those foods much more appealing. And the smells of food cooking are quite alluring.
In our survey of school Food Service Directors in March, just 38.7% of respondents voted “Keep It” for a vanilla boli served cold whereas 72.7% of respondents voted “Keep It” for the same food served warm. That’s a BIG difference.
In addition to a Cook & Hold, sufficient cold storage capacity is needed to implement a hot breakfast program. Grants are available to help with equipment purchases.
Cold Breakfast with Protein is 2nd Best Option
We realize not every client partner has the space, equipment or staff to implement a hot breakfast program. Our pre-assembled cold breakfast bags are the simplest way to execute your USDA-compliant School Breakfast Program with limited staff and equipment. If feasible for your program, the next-best-thing to hot breakfast is offering our cold breakfast bags with a protein, such as string cheese, yogurt or a hard-boiled egg.
The yogurts on our menus already comply with the USDA’s reduced sugar requirements taking effect July 1, 2025. We had our taste testers make parfaits with flavored yogurt topped with granola, an experience and taste they enjoyed.
They also liked the new string cheese sticks they sampled. We’ll be changing to a new manufacturer that make the products preferred in taste tests and offering both colby and mozzarella varieties.
Also watch for strawberry cream cheese as a new accompaniment to bagels next fall.
Refinements Welcomed to Cold Breakfast Bags
We aim to offer the best cold breakfast products to ensure even the schools unable to offer cold proteins have strong participation every morning. We had students, even those who receive hot breakfast, evaluate several new cold breakfast foods to help choose the very best available.
We’ll be introducing Cooper Street Bakes in blueberry & cranberry varieties. These low-sodium, whole-grain-rich baked bars have a blend of fruit, oats and ancient grains like quinoa, flax, chia seed and buckwheat. Created for those with dietary sensitivities, they’re peanut-free, tree nut-free, dairy-free and soy-free.
This fall, students will be treated to cereal bowls from Post Consumer Brands, specifically the Honey Scooters and Cinnamon Toasters 2 oz. cereal bowls. These cereal bowls have been reformulated to comply with the July 1, 2025, USDA nutritional guidelines relative to added sugars in School Breakfast Program foods and meet the nutritional guidelines for whole grains.
Improved Ingredients Yield Better Lunches
The taste test sessions allowed us to evaluate the most preferred ingredients in our lunch entrees. Following internal testing of multiple chicken, beef crumble and other ingredient foods, we further tested these products with the student groups. This may seem minor but the results demonstrated differently. We will be specifying new beef crumble in our tacos and other lunches as well as a new brand of chicken drumsticks. There will be a new brand of corn dogs this fall, too!
Other new products coming to the fall menus that sailed through taste tests include an all-beef pretzel dog, chicken alfredo and mac & cheese. Vegetarian fried rice will be replacing plain brown rice in some meals and our popular orange chicken will be served with either rice or new Mongolian noodles.
Spice Is Hard
Everyone has varying tolerances and affinity for spicy heat in their meals and kids are no exception. We generally reserve anything spicy for our grades 9-12 menus, assuming those students have developed a taste for spice. We heard in the taste tests that its younger kids who want more spice and the older kids asked for less spice. Chris will be exploring ways to satisfy most by dialing back the spice levels “baked” into our meals while supplying medium salsa or packets of hot sauce or red pepper flakes with meals.
Thank you to everyone who participated in our annual taste tests. The feedback helps us improve and continue to keep your participation levels at their peak. Watch for the invitation to participate in our 2026 taste tests next spring.
