Lunchroom Promotion: Celebrate ‘Pear Month’ in Your Cafeterias

An easy way to generate buzz about what you’re serving in your cafeterias is to use tie-ins from national awareness days, weeks, months or holidays. Previously, we suggested a tasting day on National Sandwich Day and trying regional menus while decorating your lunchrooms with maps for National Geography Awareness Week. So how about trying another promotion for an entire month? December is National Pear Month, which is an excellent opportunity to get students excited about trying pears and meet the USDA requirements for fruit servings.

Pears were the School Nutrition Association Magazine’s “Food Focus” in 2011, and the complete article includes recipes and ways you can use pears to peak student interest in the lunchroom. For instance, substitute pears for recipes that traditionally use apples, which students may be more familiar with. You can even hold a contest, like the Pacific Northwest Canned Pear Service and SmileMakers, Inc. did, inviting students to make an art piece out of canned pears at home. Photo entries can be submitted and hung in the cafeteria, and students can vote for their favorite.

If you participate in National Pear Month, share your stories with us and we will feature them on our blog!

Meals Plus is dedicated to helping you increase participation in the classroom. Which is why our next free download, “The Five P’s of Promoting Your Child Nutrition Program: Product, Placement, Promotion, Price and People,” will be available this winter! Follow our blog or subscribe to our e-newsletter for the release date and more information.