Adding Flavor: The Process of Approving New Toppings
Photo by Neil Bates from Pexels.
Truth Frazier
As a high school student, I find it important to look out for ways to make the best out of my day at school—especially when it comes to the food. Teachers not allowing snacks in class and having to wait until lunch after not eating breakfast—it’s a lot. Thinking and worrying about if I’m going to eat all during the school day stops at beloved frozen yogurt. With different flavors and choices, the froyo sold during lunch at Hamilton outshines the other numerous options of snacks available to students.
As a high schooler who values some sense of fun and ‘sweetness’ in my day, the frozen yogurt sparked ideas and the thought of toppings didn’t seem like a bad idea. When the rainbow sprinkles were introduced, students loved it—at least I did. They were gone in less than a few days and it had my lunch table thinking: What about a variety of toppings, not just sprinkles? The rest of that lunch period was filled with conversation about a new addition to part of the lunch menu—imagining flavors and toppings like salted caramel, strawberry, and brownie pieces—the possibilities were endless.
The idea itself was too intriguing not to follow through with, so I took it upon myself to figure what I could do to make it happen. A survey was sent out to a multitude of classes and students to track how many people would actually be interested in the idea of serving additional toppings. Over 65% of students surveyed report that they regularly buy frozen yogurt or have at some point during this school year, and nearly 84% of students say that they have friends that purchase frozen yogurt consistently. Even some of the students who responded “no” to the first question about having purchased frozen yogurt selected “I would put other toppings if they had them” when asked if they add sprinkles to their frozen yogurt, suggesting more students might purchase the available froyo with additional toppings.
The survey also included questions about what toppings students would want to see. The options listed for students to vote for were different flavors of sprinkles, brownie pieces, cookie dough bites, peanut butter cups, M&Ms or other candy toppings, and drizzle. Students also had the option to list the choices they would like to see. Some of the things they mentioned were bananas, gummy worms, and gummy bears. The top options for topping choices out of those that were listed were brownie pieces with 73% of votes, cookie dough bites with the same amount as well, and finally Oreo crumbs with over 78% of student votes.
Of course, the toppings would come with some form of cost or charge, so students were also asked in what price range they would be willing to pay for toppings. Most students responded at a minimum of ten cents and at the highest fifty cents. The basis of the idea is that there could be a rotation of toppings introduced: mini cups that you can buy for self serving or even a full out bar of toppings for students to choose from.
Although the idea has positive feedback from a lot of students, I learned that there are restrictions that make the likeness of the toppings actually making an appearance during lunch a bit more complicated. As a government funded organization, Hamilton has to follow the laws and regulations made by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). There are more levels to the legal restrictions on what the school provides to students, but the bottom line is that some of the things like brownie pieces, peanut butter cups, and cookie dough would most likely not meet the criteria given to Hamilton by health organizations.
My interview with Mrs. Kira King, the Hamilton Director of Nutritional Services, was extremely helpful to give background to the whole dynamic of the nutritional services and how they operate. She says, “Everything we serve here has to meet the smart snack guidelines. Anything that meets the guidelines and that students would like, I would love to offer. We are just limited; some ideas are amazing but they just aren't up to the guidelines. The two biggest limitations are cost and the USDA.”
So although the idea is favored by students, parts of it just wouldn’t be possible considering the things Hamilton has to do as a school. Allergies and religious dietary restrictions would also have to be accounted for as well. Hamilton is an all-inclusive school, and that certainly won’t stop at froyo toppings. Kosher, vegan, gluten free, and allergies as well as religious dietary restrictions would all have to be considered when buying toppings to sell during lunch.
Not only the legal restrictions hold the school back from acting on the decision, but the students account for part of the delay as well. In my interview with Mrs. King, she mentioned that in the past, students have shown that we can’t handle having specific things in the lunchroom. There have been instances where students will throw things at their peers, play with their food, and just other immature things that cause the student body to look childish and irresponsible as a whole. I see some of these things as a student here at Hamilton in the cafeteria and it becomes frustrating at times when all I want is cookie crumbs for my froyo but I can’t have them just because someone decides to drizzle ranch across their tray. Ms. King says that “a few kids could ruin it for everyone. Someone could empty a whole container of toppings or something like that; it’s just not kind for the next person.” The logistics of students being able to serve ourselves makes it even more difficult for the school to say ‘yes’ to the idea.
Although it seems that all of these obstacles may be more of a reason not to follow through with the hope to expand topping offerings, Mrs. King and plenty of students still think that the idea is extremely favorable. Freshman student Mckenna Granicki says, “It's a good idea because people liked the sprinkles so why not expand it? People like it when students have an idea and follow through with it, so I think this is a good idea.” Plenty of my peers have the same view as Mckenna, that the idea is cool not just because of the self benefit of getting to have a sweet treat during lunch, but also to build the voice and influence that students have on the school community as a whole.
Overall, the idea has been brought to the attention of the Hamilton administration. To say for sure whether or not it’ll actually happen—it’s undecided for now. The small things like fat, carbs, sugar, ingredients—all of those things matter when people like Mrs. King look at what Hamilton can and can’t serve. However, hope still exists that the student body may see some new toppings in the future. Mrs. King says, “I'll see what we can come up with. I’ll do some research on toppings and I really like these ideas.”
