Recent regulatory changes have made processing USDA commodities for the School Lunch Program a more efficient and cost-effective option for food manufacturers. The most important of these changes is the Departments approval of permanent substitution and standard yield - Final Rule in the Federal Register, October 23, 2002. This option allows K-12 districts to work with the state agencies, foodservice manufacturers, and commercial distributors to receive commercial products with commodity ingredients through a variety of Pass Through Value methods (link here).
These and other rule changes, combined with the web-based data tracking offered by K12Foodservice.com, allow more manufacturers to participate in this traditionally cumbersome arena of commodity processing.
Whether you are already in the school market processing commodities or not, an effective commodity program can benefit your organization in a number of ways, including: exposure to a massive market, establishment of brand loyal customers, plant efficiencies, reduced fixed costs, fixed costs for raw material donations, expansion of commercial distribution channels, increased profit margin, etc. Whatever your companys reasons are for participation, this truly is an excellent opportunity to market to a segment that is heavily insulated from economic uncertainty.
K12 Services is prepared to work with your organization to answer these questions and develop a comprehensive solution to support your commodity program. We will work with you to develop an effective plan to manage the responsibilities of compliance by utilizing our proprietary application software to connect all interest parties. These include: The school customer, manufacturer/broker, commercial distributor, State distribution agent and the Federal program administrators. K12 Services offers this application through a web application which is password protected according to level of detail needed by the user.
We can also work with you to develop the most effective strategy possible to make your company as competitive as possible. This includes but is not limited to: assessing your product line up and looking for potential commodity integration, reviewing your sales and broker network, evaluating your current distribution channel, providing training for your staff and customers, representing you with the USDA, etc.
K12 Services has vast experience in developing effective programs for manufacturers wishing to utilize USDA commodity donations as ingredients and we look forward to working with your company.
