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"On a recent survey of student satisfaction with St Joseph's,
the school canteen rated 6th of the list of highlights behind
teacher relationships, friendships, activities, learning and
facilities.
"Our canteen had been running at a loss following our
decision to only provide 'healthy' food. When Lisa took over
as manager, she proved that healthy and popular go hand in
hand. Whilst our canteen doesn't make huge profits, it is
in the black and always has a queue."
- Genevieve Moss, Principal
"If it wasn't for Lisa Robortella, our school would probably
not have a canteen at all. Before Lisa enthusiastically took
over the running of the St Joseph's Primary School canteen,
the canteen was running at a significant loss and looked like
it would have to be scaled down or closed. The canteen relied
on the sale of chips, lollies and soft drinks, and the general
belief was that it was not possible to do much with a canteen
in a school of 250 students. Lisa was not defeated by all
the doom and gloom, but put up her hand at short notice to
take on the responsibility of the canteen and turn her enthusiasm
for healthy eating into the current success story that is
our rejuvenated canteen.
"Lisa scrubbed down the canteen and started fresh. With
a clear determination of how she thought the canteen should
move forward, she started rewriting the menu and baking for
our children. Lisa enlisted the help of 'Go for your life'
and used their template and many ideas of her own to create
a new canteen full of healthy and exciting menu options. She
updated all of the food handling and safety processes, and
proudly runs these by the book.
"Lisa's enthusiasm also extended to a new vigour in
promoting the canteen to increase sales. She developed a weekly
column in the school newsletter to create interest in her
exciting menu items. Each week we are kept updated with items
such as soup of the day, muffin flavours and any other specials
she may be cooking. Lisa also organises special food days
with exciting lunches such as freshly cooked chicken & salad
wraps, sushi, noodles, pasta, and pizza. Each term Lisa thinks
up something to keep the children interested, and to give
them something tasty to look forward to. Even the name of
the canteen was changed after Lisa ran a competition for the
children to take on a bit of ownership by designing a new
image for the 'Healthy Snack Shop'.
"Lisa exhibits a genuine sense of caring for all the
children, she always has a welcoming smile when they come
to the window, no request is a bother, and she always treats
them with a level of kindness and understanding. A smile,
a few kind words and a helping hand are so important to a
small child who has lost their lunch money.
"Because of Lisa, we are now used to the delicious smells
of fresh baking in the school corridors and parents are able
to actively support the canteen by utilising its services
to provide a healthy lunch for their children knowing there
is a great range of options to choose from. Lisa even changes
the menu seasonally, increasing the variety even further.
"We believe that Lisa Robortella definitely deserves
an award for what she took on, and what she has turned it
into. We are now proudly accredited as a healthy eating canteen
with 'Go for your life' and will be featured on their website
as a success story. This is entirely due to Lisa's untiring
enthusiasm and extremely hard work. It's amazing to thing
that our canteen will now be used by other schools as a model
of what can be achieved."
- St Joseph's Parents and Friends
"With no Occasionally (red) foods on their menu, St Joseph's
Primary School has been very successful in promoting healthy
food and drink choices to its students. Canteen manager, Lisa
Robortella, with support from the school and parents, has
managed to take on board the advice and recommendations from
the 'Go for your life' Canteens Advisory Service in making
their menu 'greener'.
"Everyday (green) snack foods make up most of the snack
options at recess. In fact, 11 out of the 15 snack items are
Everyday foods. These include happy eggs (hardboiled eggs),
dried fruit bags, fresh fruits, Fru bears, apple slinkies,
toasted pita breads, air popped plain popcorn, raisin bread
and pikelets. All snacks are sold for under $1 and are displayed
on the counter for the students to see.
"All the Occasionally snack foods have been swapped
with Everyday or Select Carefully (amber) items. These include
adding fruits into jelly cups and adding a variety of homemade
snacks such as 'cheese twist' (made with low fat cheese and
low fat pastry), and chewy cookies (made with oats and wholemeal
flour). These homemade snacks are now some of the top selling
items. Lisa's key to success is 'to make healthy snacks look
tasty and attractive'.
"The menu also offers a range of Everyday lunch menu
items including homemade soup, corn cob, baked potato and
a variety of sandwiches, wraps and rolls all filled with plenty
of salad vegies, low fat cheese and lean meat. Prices of Everyday
foods are kept low to encourage students to buy them. Also,
by not offering any Occasionally foods, keeping prices low
and promoting Everyday foods has meant the canteen has not
lost any profits. In fact, the chicken wrap and toasted sandwiches
are currently the best selling lunch items.
"Lisa also tries to make the menu more fun and exciting
by having a special lunch day each term. These include sushi
day, noodle day and smoothies day - the students love the
theme days.
"In the last year that Lisa has managed the canteen,
she has continued to provide interesting, great tasting quality
meals while keeping prices to the minimum, giving students
excellent value for their money."
- 'Go for your life' Canteens Advisory Service
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