Lincoln County School District is offering all students both breakfast and lunch meals free of charge this school year. This is made possible through a number of USDA waivers and program flexibilities. Our foodservice program is supporting student health and academic success by ensuring access to nutritious meals every day.
Unfortunately, providing these meals has become significantly more difficult this year. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, we are seeing nationwide disruptions to school foodservice manufacturing, supply and distribution channels. What does this mean for school meals? In short, it means that our schools are having trouble getting certain foods and supplies. This results in frequent menu changes, reduced menu variety, and changes in meal service options.
These problems are related to supply-chain backlogs, which plague the entire system. The most common problems are discontinued menu items, shortages, longer-than-normal lead times, significantly higher costs compared with pre-pandemic bids, delayed deliveries, and/ or deliveries that contain a tiny fraction of what was ordered.
The foodservice industry is predicting that supply-chain disruptions will continue well into 2022. We hope parents and students will be patient as we sort through these supply-chain issues.