What We Learned From Community Feedback about Our Food Offerings

CPS is committed to being responsive to community input and building awareness of our food standards and overall school meal program. We strive to center students’ voices in our engagements, but recognize that stakeholders in the larger school food community also offer valuable input.

Earlier this year, we implemented a School Food Survey to gather feedback about our food program. This is essential for realizing our vision to create a world-class dining program that is innovative, aspirational, and student-centered. We achieve this by providing students with healthy, high-quality meals, excellent customer service, and creating unique dining experiences.

We received more than 40,000 responses. Here’s what we learned from this year’s survey: 

1. More than 75 percent of survey participants indicate that they eat school lunch. 

• Preferred lunch items include pizza; a chicken patty sandwich, chicken tenders, or strips; and a cheeseburger or hamburger. 
• The most popular protein options include chicken, beef, and dairy such as cheese or yogurt. 
• Preferred grains include nachos and pasta. 
• Students prefer white rice to brown rice and corn tortillas to flour tortillas.

2. More than 50 percent of survey participants indicate that they eat school breakfast. 

• Preferred breakfast items include sweetened breakfast breads such as muffins, waffles, pancakes, and French toast; cold cereal; and smoothies. 
• The most popular protein options include yogurt, eggs, and turkey or chicken sausage. 
• Students would like more grab-and-go items, such as breakfast bars. 

3. Students use a variety of methods to get information about school meals. 

• The most common methods include the CPS meals website and their fellow students. 

4. Many factors of school meals are important to our students. 

• Students believe that access to school meals should come at no charge. 
• They think that meals should offer a variety of fruits, vegetables, and entree items. 
• They also want their posted school menus to align with the options served. 

We learned so much from this year’s School Food Survey and are grateful for the tens of thousands of stakeholders who completed it. We are looking forward to putting their suggestions into action during the upcoming school year and beyond. 

For more information about our meal program, please visit cps.edu/food.