Lyons Township High Replacing Food Provider

LA GRANGE, IL – Lyons Township High School is looking to replace its longtime food provider with a company that promises grab-and-go options outside of normal school hours and possibly the use of a mobile ordering app.

Three companies responded to a request for proposals on meal services – the school's current provider, Sodexo; Quest Food Management Services; and OrganicLife.

The school's administration is recommending Lombard-based Quest. According to a memo, what put Quest over the top is its guarantee of a financial return of nearly $1.1 million to the school over five years. That is far higher than its competitors, the school said.

OrganicLife, however, won the student taste-testing competition earlier this year. An OrganicLife executive told the school board this week that his firm had advantages over the others.

At the board meeting, officials told the board that prices for meals would stay the same with Quest. They would go up if food costs rise.

Board member Shawn Kennedy said the competitors guaranteed returns to the school of $350,000 and $270,000 over the life of the contract. He said his first thought was that "something funny is going on here" with Quest's $1.1 million.

In reply, Nick Saccaro, Quest's president, said the school's current lunch program is underperforming.

"You have a nice facility (at North Campus), and you'll have a beautiful facility at (South Campus)," he said. "There's no reason that this program should not be on par with what other programs are delivering."

Saccaro also said his company has a "deep passion" to make meal options available to low-income students who receive free and reduced-price options.

Each day, he said, 10 options, including grab-and-go selections, are made available to such students. They get choices at every station, he said.

"We really take a lot of pride in growing the revenue, but also growing the number of meals that students are consuming," Saccarro said.

During public comments later in the meeting, Joe Arvia, OrganicLife's vice president, questioned how a firm could increase the financial return for the school without raising prices.

"I can tell you that half of the revenue that comes in goes to food costs, so to raise the profit by that amount, you have to raise the revenue 200 or 300 percent," Arvia said.

He said with OrganicLife, recipients of free or reduced-price lunches get the same selections as others.

Last year, he said, his company replaced Quest in suburban Batavia's schools. Quest was serving 50 or 60 of the 180 students who qualified for free or reduced-price lunches, while OrganicLife increased that number to 150, he said.

OrganicLife did that by allowing such students all the choices as their counterparts, Arvia said. When they don't get all the options, he said, the students are revealed as receiving free or reduced-price lunches.

"Those kids are identified, and they will shy away from participating, so that hurts your program," Arvia said.

The school board may vote on the food service contract as early as its May 19 meeting. The winning company would start with the new school year.