Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Meals Plus Monthly E-Newsletter - April 2015

2015 User Group Meetings

Two of the three 2015 Meals Plus Regional User Group Meetings were held this month and both were extremely beneficial for Meals Plus customers across the country.

User Group Meetings are a great opportunity for the Meals Plus Team to cover a diverse range of topics. A year-in-review covered highlights of the past year, such as our POS+ supper program; reverse transaction utility; and the HDI CSAT Elite 50 Award, a worldwide customer support award, which the Meals Plus Support Team ranked #23. And exciting software enhancements in progress, such as a DASL Interface, were unveiled at the meeting.

Many of the Meals Plus modules were discussed in detail, followed by Q&A sessions. Because Meals Plus tracks detailed information on all customer support calls, the most frequent and pertinent items about the software were discussed, ensuring a successful meeting. "It was a nice refresher of what the program offers and we also learned things about the system that we didn't know it could do," said Stephanie Bruce, Director of Nutrition Services at Palm Springs USD in Palm Springs, CA. And a round table discussion, a new addition to the User Group Meeting Agenda, provided Meals Plus customers the opportunity to network and share ideas with other child nutrition professionals. Any topic related to K-12 school foodservice, not just software, was discussed in a casual and informal setting. "One of the outcomes of those discussions was that attendees exchanged emails and our department's Nutrition Services Technician, Monica Orta, is going to create an email tree so that we can connect with other Meals Plus customers easily."

Thank you to all of the attendees for helping make this year's User Group Meetings a success! If you are interested in attending the final User Group Meeting of 2015, register today for our Eastern User Group Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. Registration and payment is required by May 7th for the May 21st meeting.

Click here to read the complete article.

Meals Plus Recognized for Elite
Customer Service and Support

Meals Plus' award-winning Help Desk has been named one of the 2015 HDI CSAT Elite 50, which recognizes outstanding technical support centers around the world. HDI is the world's largest professional association and certification body for technical service and support professionals.

Among the Elite 50, Meals Plus ranked 23rd, which was determined by customer satisfaction survey responses gathered by the HDI Customer Service Index. The fifty support centers with the highest scores are part of the Elite 50, and the ranking within the top fifty is based off of the average of the year's responses to the fifth question on the survey: "How satisfied are you with the overall service experience?"

"We are extremely proud of our team," said Meals Plus Vice-President Jeff Flynn. "We are dedicated to providing the best service to our customers day in and day out, and are honored to be recognized at the national level."

ICYMI: SNIC 2015 was a Huge Success!

As always, the SNA School Nutrition Industry Conference was an enormous success. Meals Plus Account Manager Joy Miller and Child Nutrition Operations Consultant Cynthia Sevier, SNS were on-hand for the event in Phoenix, AZ and enjoyed meeting with other industry representatives and school nutrition directors.

This year's General Sessions focused on embracing change through collaborative partnerships and creative marketing. (Speaking of creative marketing – have you downloaded a copy of "The 5 P's of Promoting Your School Meal Program"?) SNIC speakers also addressed various K-12 child nutrition issues, including sustainability and the green restaurant movement, "Farm-to-School" and "Farm-to-Fork" initiatives, and the creation of school gardens.

Thank you to the School Nutrition Association for hosting the event! We look forward to next year.

Tips from Cynthia Sevier, SNS,
Child Nutrition Operations Consultant

In our most recent white paper, "The 5 P's of Promoting Your School Meal Program," Child Nutrition Operations Consultant Cynthia Sevier, SNS, examines how you can promote your child nutrition program, and shares real-life experiences in school districts across the country. "The 5 P's" are Product, Placement, Promotion, Price and People. Here is an excerpt of the white paper illustrating how you can implement "Promotion" in your program:

"Social media is a vast, untapped resource for school nutrition programs and is a direct connection between our students and parents. It takes time and commitment but can be a vehicle to reach students and parents with information about the program. Check with your school board policies concerning the use of social media before beginning.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs are being used by students and parents, and can be very valuable in telling your story. Perception doesn't always equal reality and this becomes apparent with some of the postings. By sharing your story, you are communicating who you are and what you are capable of doing. You are earning your customers attention rather than "buying" it. Why not take the opportunity to answer questions and educate our stakeholders?

Information that is posted must be current and relevant to create and keep interest."

To read more about marketing your school meal program
download your free copy of
"The 5 P's of Promoting Your School Meal Program."

Accountability Software that is
Centralized, Connected and Timely

Meals Plus Accountability software allows you to gain real-time access to school-by-school Point of Sale data, updates POS pricing from the Central Office, exchanges data with your district's student information system and so much more.

Schedule a web demo or email us for more information!

Meet the Team: Tripp

Meet the Meals Plus Team! In addition to being a member of the Meals Plus Support Team, Tripp is currently a C-17 pilot in the United States Air Force Reserve, where he has flown several missions all over the world, and the continental U.S.

The Dish: How long have you been at Meals Plus?
Tripp: I joined the Meals Plus Support Team initially in 2011, then left for pilot training with the United States Air Force. I returned in January 2015 after three years of training and orders.

TD: What duties and responsibilities does your position entail?
T: Remotely assisting customers with any questions, or concerns they may have with the product, to include training the customer on the Meals Plus software suite.

TD: What aspects of your position do you enjoy the most?
T: I enjoy investigating support cases for clients and being a problem-solver for our customers.

TD: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
T: Playing golf, going to the beach, flying airplanes, grilling out and most important of all, spending time with my family.

TD: What was your favorite lunch when you were in school?
T: Two clux deluxe chicken sandwiches, fries, and a Gatorade.

Visit our blog to meet the rest of the Meals Plus Team!

School Nutrition Conferences

We are spreading the word on how Meals Plus makes managing your school's students, staff, menus, finances and inventory easier. Come see us at the following conferences: