Santa Fe High School food service manager Donna Andersen has some competition these days—and she loves it.
Every day the school’s student government sells chicken bowls, wraps and other items out of a special ‘cooperative cart’ set up on the courtyard. The group does a very brisk business.
“We’re busy all the time,” said senior class president Shelby McKinney. “We make at least $60 a day, and if it’s a good day, we make $70. It’s a lot more than we thought we’d be making.”
The students are able to bring in the cash by offering items that aren’t available in the school’s cafeteria and charging a little extra for them. Student government gets 25 cents for every item sold, money that is used to pay for trips to state conventions and other expenses.
“At first people thought it was really weird seeing students selling food like we were the new lunch ladies, but they really like it,” said Jenna Cottingham, the school’s student body president.
The cooperative cart program was established by Pennie Rodriguez, a food and nutrition specialist with Alachua County Public Schools Food Services Department. It’s based on a similar program in Orange County Public Schools. Santa Fe High School was the pilot site, but Rodriguez said it proved so successful that it’s now in place in six Alachua County high schools.
So far the cooperative carts districtwide have raised about $11,000 for student organizations. Those organizations must take on the responsibility for marketing and manning the cart and handling the money, but the food service department provides training in such areas as money management, safe food handling and other critical areas. The students also get daily help from the food service staffers at their schools.
Everyone involved in the program, from the school and district staffers to the club sponsors and students say the cooperative cart program is not just a great money-maker, but also provides the students with some excellent real-world experiences.
“They’re developing money skills, customer service skills and teamwork,” said Andersen. “They have to be responsible because they are accountable for everything. They do a really good job.”
“We encourage them to include this on job applications because it’s real work experience,” said Rodriguez. “After all, they’re doing customer service, they’re handling cash, they’re doing sales, they’re doing it all.”