Bethel Park promoting healthy-eating trend with ‘build-your-own’ salad bar
Joe Consolmagno stands next to the new build-your-own salad bar in the Bethel Park High School kitchen.
Students can choose from a wide-variety of toppings to put on their salad.
The question Bethel Park School District Food Service Director Joe Consolmagno faced when the Obama administration instituted the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 was how were they going to change a system that had nearly became protocol for a number of years?
As healthy-eating initiatives have trended upward, the awareness for quality meals at all age levels in school districts across the country have followed suit.
Following a request from members of the Bethel Park High School softball team, Consolmagno instituted another healthy alternative with a build-your-own salad bar every Tuesday and Wednesday as one of the stations in the high school cafeteria.
About 35 students used the customized salad bar on the first day March 21. The number nearly doubled the second day.
“We do already offer pre-made salads, but this option provides other alternatives,” Consolmagno said. “It’s growing because word is getting out that it’s available.”
For $3.10, students can choose from a variety of fruits, vegetables, proteins, cheeses and dressings on their salad. They can also choose from a dinner roll, slice of garlic bread, bread sticks, fries or fresh fruit to accompany their personalized salad.
“Basically, it’s about what the kids want to eat,” Consolmagno said. “We are trying our best to provide that. That’s what we are designed to do. We want to provide students with what they want, not what I want them to eat. The regulations came down and it was a dramatic change because items that used to be available weren’t anymore. There was adjustment for the taste.”
While the adjustment of food was a transition, so were the renovations taking part in the high school that Consolmagno now credits the ability to have multiple options on any given day.
“When we designed this kitchen, I wanted to make sure I was fully involved with the architects on the dynamics of how the cafeteria flowed,” he said. “Our old cafeteria had two straight lines and it was a mess. When we went to this type of food-court layout, it gives students the variety to go to any of our stations just like they would do at South Hills Village (mall). The openness also allows them to get their food and pay within seven or eight minutes, so they have more time to eat their lunch.”
Serving about 800 students each day at Bethel Park High School, Consolmagno is hoping that the option of building your own salad might increase the number of students who purchase a lunch.
After working in the food industry for more than 40 years and in school districts since 1995, the adjustments have been impactful to his daily duties.
“When I first got into it, I wanted every student to have the opportunity to buy a lunch every day,” Consolmagno said. “That changes when you have to force kids to eat certain items but we’ve adjusted. The kids have adjusted. Overall, I think it’s been a positive move.”