After slow start, Marblehead lunch bunch seeks rebound

MARBLEHEAD – This year?s food service sales got off to a slow start – but officials are hoping that they will quickly pick up.Food Services Director Tara Hatala took the responsibility in a report to the School Committee.Total food sales for September – school lunch, catering and vending – were $61,801, compared to $110,457 for the previous September. That?s a 44 percent monthly drop from last year to this year, partially due to healthy changes in the menu and an operational shift.?At the start of this year, we offered only full-year lunch tickets,” Hatala said. “We have modified that decision and ? we are promoting monthly and weekly tickets as well.”He noted that September, 2009 had only 16 school days compared to 20 last year, and daily ticket sales are 74 percent of what they were last year.That said, there was some good news: Friday, Oct. 16, food sales were the highest of any single day in the past five years, apparently due in large part to the popularity of pizza in kindergarten-Grade 3.And Hatala could also list increased communication with staff and students, new accountability measures, a renewed USDA contract and an on-going balance between nutrition guidelines and fiscal responsibilities.Superintendent of Schools Paul Dulac, who hired Hatala last summer, was encouraging. “We?re going to make our food program second to none on the North Shore,” he said.