STAR FOOD HEALTHY EXPRESS

Reimbursable Meal Vending Machine Program

VE South, the distributor of Star Food Healthy Express, is the leader in developing the technology and the machine’s

capabilities for a reimbursable meals program in schools.

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April 2013 Research on Results

PREFACE & APPROACH

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

RESULTS• Cincinnati, OH• Broward County, FL• Miami-Dade, FL

FINANCIAL PAYBACK

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Reimbursable Vendingsupports all day parts:• Breakfast

• Lunch

• Snacks

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Approach – 3 Districts EvaluatedResults were evaluated using three districts who collectively operate nearly 150 STAR FOOD HEALTHY EXPRESS machines in Senior High and Middle schools.

Broward County, FL (Ft. Lauderdale) • 6th largest district; 259,000 students; 66,900 in Sr. High• Lunch service – 50 vending machines in 29 Sr. Highs• January 2012 – 2 STAR FOOD HEALTHY EXPRESS unit pilot• Two waves of placements: May and then in November 2012

Cincinnati, OH• Urban district; 32,500 students; 12,400 in Sr. High• Breakfast service – 19 vending machines in 14 Sr. Highs• January 2012 – placed in 14 high schools

Miami-Dade, FL• 3rd largest district; 350,000 students; 84,900 in Sr. High• Lunch service – 77 vending machines in 43 Sr. Highs, 7 Middle• First wave – 28 machines installed March-May 2011• 49 more machines installed the following year (‘11-’12)

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Serving Lunch: Broward County Public Schools

Beginning in January 2012, Broward County Public Schools in south Florida piloted STAR FOOD HEALTHY EXPRESS vending machines in 2 high schools.

After only two months, the district began installing additional machines into the senior high schools. By May, there were 39 machines across the high schools in the district.

An additional 11 machines were installed in the middle schools by November 2012.

This analysis evaluates the 39 machines in the High Schools.

Goal: To increase options available in the lunch program and serve students faster.

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Sales Performance Has Been Strong

Broward

55.7

Daily lunch sales through STAR FOOD HEALTHY EXPRESS

The top performing schools (1 out of every 4) regularly exceed 100 meals per day.

Key Benefits reported by Staff & Students

Students avoid waiting in long lines – it only takes 17 seconds to serve a vended meal.

Located near cafeteria entrances for quick access.

Students like technology interface and independence.

Provided additional variety and choices beyond what is offered on the lunch line.• Different types of wraps and 16-ounce yogurt parfaits.• Alternate for traditional meals.

Reduced labor required to serve students.

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Fruit & Yogurt Parfaits Are the Biggest Seller

The parfaits represent 72% of the meals served through vending machines. Each school provides 2-3 fruit choices.

The wraps make up 28% of sales, with Chicken Caesar being the most popular.

FRUIT & YOGURT PARFAITS

72%

CHICKEN CAESAR WRAP 22%

MONTEGO BAY WRAP

6%

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Broward County Public Schools Recap

BROWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

ARE PLANNING TO:• expand vending to include breakfast items.• expand their recipes to increase variety.

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Serving Lunch: Miami-Dade Public Schools

Beginning in Spring 2011 Miami-Dade Public Schools in Florida began offering reimbursable lunches through STAR FOOD HEALTHY EXPRESS vending machines.

An additional 49 machines were added between Sept. 2011 and May 2012 for a total of 77 machines.

Many of the meals were created by a team of award winning local South Florida chefs working within the USDA guidelines.

A portion of the machines were funded with grant money from the Florida Dairy Council as well as from Community Putting Prevention to Work, a federal stimulus program, in conjunction with the Miami-Dade Health Department.

Goal: To increase options available in the lunch program and serve students faster.

Pictured at left with Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho are Chef Frank Jeannetti, The Palms Hotel & Spa; Chef Kris Wessel, Red Light Miami; and Chef Michelle Bernstein, Michy’s and Sra. Martinez.

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Reimbursable Vending Sales Trend

Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Jan-Mar Apr-Jun

2011-2012

Daily lunch sales at top performing schools regularly exceed 100 per day.

Avg Students Served Daily per School

N = 49

40

4745 45

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Successful with A Wide Variety of Products

Machine design allows for high visibility and better merchandising and packaging. Significant publicity occurred around the chef created meals, leading to higher student trial. 56% of all the meals have been fruit & yogurt parfaits – offering 2-3 different types of fruit.

FRUIT & YOGURT PARFAITS

56%

SALADS21%

WRAPS10%

SANDWICHES13%

Chicken Chef 9%

Gr Buffalo Chicken 6%

Rosemary Chicken 2%

Tuna 2%

Other 2%

Salads represent 21% of vended meals.• Chicken is the most frequent

protein, usually offered two different ways.

Sandwiches tend to be turkey or ham and together represent 13% of vended meals.

Wraps have strong sales in about 10% of the schools and acceptable sales in nearly half of the High Schools.

The average machine contained 4-5 different choices for students.

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Miami-Dade County Public Schools Recap

Miami-Dade COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE PLANNING TO:

• expand the vending use to include breakfast items.

STAR FOOD HEALTHY EXPRESS served lunch to 45 students each day during the measurement period (2011-2012 school year).

Miami-Dade worked to create excitement and unique offerings by engaging local renowned chefs in developing the vended meal offerings. This resulted in a stronger overall sales mix across the different meal types: salads, sandwiches and wraps.

Middle schools, while new to the program, show strong signs of promise. Their early performance suggests nearly twice the vended meal volume per 100 students.

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Breakfast Application: Cincinnati Public Schools

Beginning in January 2012 Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) placed STAR FOOD HEALTHY EXPRESS vending machines in 14 high schools.

CPS conducted a survey to learn why their students weren’t eating breakfast and discovered the two main reasons:

1. Never have time to get to cafeteria.2. Campus is too large – Distance to lunchroom is too far for grab-n-go.

To overcome this, the district placed 19 vending machines near the primary entrances to the 14 high schools, rather than in the cafeterias. Students could easily access breakfast on their way to class. • 19 machines in 14 high schools with nearly 12,400 students.• 12 schools have 1 machine each – 1 has 2 machines and 1 has 5 machines.• 65% Free/Reduced rate.• “No other changes were made beyond introducing vending machines for breakfast”

according to Jessica Shelly, Director of Foodservices.

Goal: To increase student participation in the universal breakfast program.

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Breakfast Meals Grew 50% in First Year

Source: Cincinnati Public Schools & Prime Consulting Group

Aug-Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Aug-Sept Oct Nov Dec

2011-2012 2012-2013

Avg Daily Breakfasts in Secondary Schools14 High Schools

Avg. Day 2,492

Avg. Day 3,112Incremental 620per Machine 32.6

Avg Day 3,718Incremental 1,226per Machine 64.5

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The students responded immediately and their use of the machines continued to grow in the following school year.

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Breakfast Participation Rose from 21% to 32% of Students

Source: Cincinnati Public Schools & Prime Consulting Group

Translates into an incremental 1,226 breakfasts each day, or 88 per school.

Aug-Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Aug-Sept Oct Nov Dec

20.4 20.5 20.922.1 22.7

26.2 26.3 26.5

23.225.4

29.531.8

% Daily Participation

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Average 21%

31.7

2011-2012 2012-2013

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Vending Drove Labor Productivity Improvements

On occasion, traditional grab-n-go breakfast carts had been set up near the vending machines. Students preferred to use the vending machines instead of the traditional carts because they like the tech interaction – easily keying in their birth date and student ID for access.

CPS observed that “the students would stand in line to use the vending machines, even when there was no line for the grab-n-go carts” according to Jessica Shelly, Director of Foodservices. CPS decided to save the labor and rely solely on the vending machines.

The work associated with preparing vended meals and stocking the machine was found to be more efficient than the traditional service line.

The high schools experienced a 6.5% increase in their labor productivity, measured as the number of meals served per labor hour (Aug-Dec ‘12 vs. YA).

Given no other significant process changes, the improvement was attributable to the vending program by the district.

Fall '11 Fall '12

Meals per Labor Hour

+6.5%

21.4 22.8

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Cincinnati Public School Recap

CPS, using the STAR FOOD HEALTHY EXPRESS vending machine, developed an innovative solution to increasing breakfast participation. The program not only delivered an immediate increase in Breakfast participation but that participation increase has continued for a full year without yet leveling off.

Placement of the machines near the school entrances had been the key component of the breakfast participation success. That success is delivering over 1,200 incremental breakfasts each day (across 14 High Schools) and now one-third of CPS high school students eat breakfast on the way to their first class, a 50% increase in just one year.

The vending program has also resulted in foodservice labor productivity. The incremental meals have been prepared and served with little or no incremental labor hours.

CINCINNATI PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE PLANNING TO:

• purchase additional machines for next year.• expand the vending to include lunch items.

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Executive Summary

STAR FOOD HEALTHY EXPRESS reimbursable vending machines have delivered strong sales and are liked by students.

In the 3 districts studied, results exceeded expectations and each district has continued to add more machines and expects to add a second meal to the program.

Key Benefits• Students like the technology, self-service, speed and feeling of independence.• Satellite locations don’t require staffing, yet deliver the same nutrition as the line.• Breakfast volume and participation grew 50% in Cincinnati in just one year.• Vending adds a service line at much lower capital cost.• Vending lowers labor cost to serve (meals per labor hour increased 6.5%).

Variable contribution from incremental meal revenue can fund the machine in under 2 years, using the machine for only one meal. If used for both meals (breakfast and lunch), payback is less than one year.

Broward Miami-Dade Cincinnati

55.745.0

87.6Vended Meals Served per School

(average day)

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Financial Payback Projection

The final portion of the evaluation included a look at the financial payback associated with investing in a STAR FOOD HEALTHY EXPRESS vending machine.

The machines were found to deliver a payback, based on variable contribution after food and labor costs, in 1-2 years when used for only a single day part.

If a district incurred some employee training time and perhaps a small charge to connect to their POS, the payback period is only extended by a couple of months.

These projections did not include a Snack or third day part, which would likely improve the economics slightly.

Base Case w/ Labor Productivity

• Breakfast Only 1.8 years 1.4 years

• Lunch Only 1.4 0.9

• Breakfast & Lunch 0.8 0.5

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Ways to Further Optimize Results In the course of our evaluation we came across several areas to further optimize the

performance of the STAR FOOD Health Express program. These may apply in some or all school environments. Taken together they could easily improve a schools results by 15-25% beyond those achieved in the districts studied.

Recommendations to Improve Performance• Very little marketing of the vending option occurred beyond some informational posters.

Student curiosity and word-of-mouth were responsible for the volumes being reported. Further awareness building and marketing of the reimbursable vending option may translate into even larger volumes. Examples include prizes (sticker on bottom of 1 in 30 wins an a la carte item, etc.), introducing new items through vending before the line, etc.

• Some districts may need help developing recipes that fulfill NSLP and SBP requirements. Consider offering a ‘starter’ set of recipes for Breakfast and Lunch to get the district up and running quickly.

• Mix of product sales will vary by school, though patterns emerge, such as strong salad schools vs. strong sandwich schools. Districts that focus on optimizing the ‘strong second’ meal, behind parfaits, can increase overall sales.

• Machine placement in accessible high traffic areas is critical.• Vending can deliver labor productivity improvements. Establishing those expectations

from the start will improve realization and speed payback.

Thank You!Contact Information

VE South/Star FoodsBob Gottlieb, Director

4800 NW 15th Ave, Suite BFort Lauderdale, FL 33309

877/857-3663 x 1Bob.Gottlieb@StarFoodHealthyExpress.com

www.starfoodhealthyexpress.com

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