Pizza is on its own again

Mandatory apple and milk purchases with pizza are no more at Burbank high schools after students cried foul over the policy last month.

At the beginning of the school year, students returned to a lunch policy that made the purchase of an apple and carton of milk mandatory with a $2 slice of Domino’s pizza.

The new lunch items also came with a price increase of $1.25.

But these changes were not arbitrary.

Legislation that took effect July 1 required California public schools to eliminate candy sales and lighten up their snack options for students. It also required that they limit the types of items students can buy a la carte, so the district’s Food Services Department established combination meals on high school campuses, one of which required the apple and carton of milk to be purchased with slices of pizza.

But as of Monday, the Domino’s pizza has not been sold on campus, and instead students now have the option of purchasing a lower calorie and fat content pizza, made by cafeteria workers, a la carte.

“Really, it came down to a customer satisfaction issue,” said Ralph Peschek, director of Food Services for the school district.

“The students were not happy with the product as it was being presented, and so we needed to seek an alternative.”

The alternative has resulted in the exchange of a fatty favorite with a higher cost for what Peschek said is a more healthful alternative with the $2 price that some students missed at Burbank and John Burroughs high schools.

“I think it’s definitely better,” said Lou Caballero, 15, a student at Burbank High. “It’s better than having to pay for an apple and milk that you don’t even eat.”

Although Lou said she didn’t like the cafeteria-made pizza as much, she thought the new system was a good trade.

Mariel Duran, a 14-year-old student at Burroughs High, said she liked the Domino’s pizza better, but the alternative provided by Food Services was decent.

Despite her lackluster review of the new pizza, Mariel said she preferred it as an a la carte item rather than having to buy the apple and milk.

“I don’t think most kids ate the apples and milk,” she said.

It turns out, she’s right.

Food Services compared the purchase volume of the Domino’s pizza slices that had to be bought with apples and milk to last year’s a la carte slice purchase numbers and found that there was a substantial drop-off, Peschek said.

Food Services workers also took surveys from students about the new policy and walked around campus, “visually seeing what was going on,” he said.

“We tried to provide the students with a product that they had liked in the past in a format that met the state regulations, and our customers told us that wasn’t something that they were interested in,” he said.

“So we listened to our customers, and we gave them what they wanted.”