Potato-Friendly Salad Bars

Two years ago, Potatoes USA began a program to bring potato-friendly salad bars into school lunch rooms across the country. Potatoes USA Assistant Marketing Manager Schylar Denton provides an update on the potato-friendly salad bar initiative.

Denton: "So far to-date we have 52 donated salad bars that are going to different states. This year we are trying target states that we didn't donate salad bars to last year. That has been successful. So in total right now we stand at 264 salad bars and we do still have some industry members who have donations pending. So helpfully in the next several months we'll be able to increase that and finish this fiscal year strong like we did last year."

In addition to the equipment itself, there are recipe and menu ideas that accompany the salad bar to the schools. Denton continues by sharing some of the feedback from those schools that have been given salad bars.

Denton: "A lot of the schools love having the salad bar because not only are they brand-new and pretty — they give them the opportunity to showcase new recipes and get the kids interested in trying different fruits and vegetables and actually increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables, which in some cases can be difficult to get little kids to eat fruits and veggies. By having salad bars in those schools, a lot of school food service directors are seeing kids excitement about food and it has giving them the ability to showcase new and different things. We've been getting really good feedback."