COMPANY TAKES OVER LUNCHES AT SCOTT CITY

SCOTT CITY -- Elementary students here were delighted Monday in having choices on their school lunch menu for the first time.

The school cafeteria service has contracted for lunches with Opaa Food Management Inc. of Chesterfield. All students now have a choice of three different meals each day.

In the past, first- through sixth-graders had no choice, and would get only what was on the menu. Older students, in grades seven through 12, have had a choice of the main menu item or a chef salad.

On Monday, the main menu was a hamburger on bun, tater tots, baked beans, chocolate brownie and milk.

The second choice was to substitute a hot dog on bun for the hamburger. The students could also choose a chef salad, chilled fruit, saltines, brownie and milk.

The chef salad was the popular item for the elementary students, with 225 being ordered.

"It was probably the novelty of it," said Linda Newell of Scott City, the company's newly-named director of nutrition services for the school lunch program here. "It was a big thrill for them to eat like the big kids."

The chef salads ordered by the elementary students were above earlier estimates by Mark Howard of Chesterfield, Opaa's regional director of operations, who will be visiting the school two to four times each month after the program is established.

There were 125 chef salads ready before the lunch count came in about 9 a.m. Even with extras ordered, Newell said the cooks pitched in and the rest were prepared by 10 a.m.

"It went well for the first day," Howard said. "Those making salads were busier than normal, but others pitched in to help. There was good cooperation as employees jumped in where needed."

Robert Sanders of Excelsior Springs near Kansas City, Opaa's executive vice president, said he could tell the younger children were "really excited" about the menu selections.

"They were asking whether they'd get three choices every day, and I was able to tell them `yes.'" Sanders said. He said the students who brought their own lunches seemed to be drawn by the excitement and wanted to see what their fellow students were eating from the school menu.

The school cafeteria has been averaging 542 Type A lunches per day, School Superintendent Doug Berry said. Monday's lunch count showed 618 students, 76 more than average, ordered a school lunch.

Berry said the school's food service was contracted in order to keep lunch prices at their current level: 85 cents for grades one to three and $1 for grades four to 12. He had planned to recommend a 15-cent increase during the summer before deciding to go with a private service.

Sanders said Opaa is a nutrition management company that specializes in menu preparation for school-age children. Thirty of the 47 Missouri school districts using outside services for their cafeterias are with Opaa.

Other schools in Southeast Missouri using Opaa are Hayti and South Pemiscot, both in their second year; and Kennett and Portageville, both in their third years.