Milk got a "new look" for the 2006-2007 school year! Eight ounce plastic bottles replaced cartons on the lunch line! The excitement from the students and staff has been tremendous. At first the students didn't know what to think - they thought it was a mistake made by the dairy and we would go back to cartons. No way!! The respones have been everything from "the milk tastes better", "the milk is colder", and "now I will drink milk with my breakfast and lunch" to "thank goodness, no more dirty cartons"!
From a director standpoint, I have enjoyed seeing the students "enjoy" milk. I think the bottles are much more sanitary than cartons, and I think they help to keep the milk colder too. We are also starting to purchase other flavored milk in addition to chocolate and strawberry. These additional flavors are being introduced to the students as they are made available from the supplier. And, milk is a regular staple for our afterschool snack program. Through our wellness policy we are encouraging the consumption of milk for school events and class parties. Overall, I wished I had switched to bottles before now.
Overall, milk sales have increased approximately 12% in our school district. While the increase in sales is wonderful, seeing the kids actually consume the milk is the best part. We are now getting empty plastic bottles returned with the trays instead of half full or unopened milk cartons. As we do more and more to promote the milk, I forsee an even greater increase in consumption. I would recommend to any Child Nutrition Director that it is worth the extra effort it takes to find a vendor that will supply them with milk in plastic bottles!
The change to plastic milk bottles occured for the 2006-2007 school year with a vendor we had never done business with before, United Dairy. We plan to continue the use of the plastic milk bottles. In addition, we plan to continue to introduce 1% flavored milk (in addition to chocolate milk) as it is made available from the vendor.
