Q&A: Roxann Roushar, Eden Prairie Schools

Changing populations, changing food attitudes. Roxann Roushar, director of child nutrition at Eden Prairie schools, has seen a lot of that during her 20 years with the district.

Previous to her arrival at Eden Prairie, Roushar was a chef for 15 years, working at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater, Radisson hotels, T.G.I.Fridays, and the Harvest Valley Bowl and Garcia’s in Shakopee.

But, with a family, “working nights and weekends really stunk,” Roushar joked. “I was hired here as a banquet cook, but it evolved into a day job. I enjoyed that time, and I enjoy this time—I can’t say one is better.”

The high school itself, since her arrival, has expanded (literally) to house 3,200 students, and includes two lunchroom areas with enough food options to resemble a mall food court. That resemblance is no accident. “We have to take after what’s familiar to them,” Roushar said.

The second cafeteria, on an upper floor and lighted by massive windows, definitely has a mall feel. Between the two eating areas, students have their choice of lunches, including a “Campus Cuisine” line that serves a variety of ethnic foods, two delis and salad bars. Various specials like “Taco Tuesday” sprinkle the calendar.

School district information:
Eden Prairie Schools ISD 272 has about 9,900 students at nine sites, including 3,200 students at the high school. Enrollment is not going up, Roushar said, but remaining flat; the community is growing older, and those older residents are not moving. “We’re up and down by about 50 students each year,” she said. “The Spanish immersion school brought in more (students) and helped us out.”

Two sites serve breakfast, one of them a “special needs” facility where 33-percent or more of the students receive free and reduced meals.

“There are fewer schools (in this district), the theory being that there could develop more community in the student body,” Roushar said. “While enrollment has been flat, the schools remain filled to capacity.”

The biggest change in school food:
Obviously, we’re focused now on more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. We cook from scratch, and we’re able to pay attention to that.

When designing a meal, since 1996, it’s gone to more nutrient-based, from traditional meal based. Protein, for example, is pulled from every part of the meal—the meat, milk and vegetables on the plate—instead of counting it as the meat portion.

Dealing with cutbacks:
Expenditures exceeded revenue this year; we’ve been in a budget-cutting process. The cutting has a trickle-down effect: For example, cutting a prepared dessert will save thousands on our budget, but that’s going to affect vendors.

We’re looking at every expenditure and every line of production. It’s good practice—one that we adhered to anyway, because, being a school, there’s always the possibility of government audit. When we say what food is out there (at the schools), it’s there.

I strongly believe in reducing labor by attrition versus eliminating jobs. We’ve been doing that for the past 10 years. The staff has been able to absorb the slow attrition, but there have been some difficult eliminations, such as the monies allocated to employ some “special needs” individuals as dishwashers.

Freezing salaries and holiday pay is another option we’re looking at, but, beyond that, options are limited. Fifty-four percent of our budget is salary, but we are already running very lean. (We average) 25 to 35 labor hours per person. Most who work here don’t put in eight hours, so all the work and cooking they do seems like a big, scary thing to take on, but we manage.

How many employees are do you have in foodservice?
Fifty at the high school and 109 total.

You mentioned you were hired as a banquet chef.
The foodservice department also caters events and runs the concessions for the basketball games and other events. The revenue is helpful, but due to the economy, people are spending less.

On local sourcing, nutrition and cooking from scratch:
We’re looking at starting a Farm-to-School program through Bix Produce. Some processing is needed; we’re looking at doing corn on the cob in the fall, but need to have it already shucked and broken in half.

We’re taking steps to inspire more conscious eating anyway, the school system last year highlighted healthy eating, going green, etcetera, and we have lessons on food and nutrition presented in health and phy-ed classes. We’re using grains, baking our own bread, and cook all soups and sauces—including our own barbecue sauce—for the district. Food is cooked at the commissary at the high school, then delivered via two trucks to the other school and “rethermalized.”

Fitting “healthy” in everywhere:
An attempt at a “combo meal” didn’t hit the mark. It contained a burger, a healthy chip, fruit and milk. The kids wanted a cookie instead of the apple, and other replacements. But, maybe it’s just the combo that’s the problem, not the pieces.

The most popular items:
Pizza, of course, and we have chicken noodle soup every day, cheesy potato. We play around in the kitchen, however, we’re trying a Reuben soup and a mulligatawny. Hummus with pita chips is on the horizon.

—Mike Mitchelson