Word: taylorism
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Meal Marketer When parents complain to Deborah Taylor, director of school-nutrition services in Shawnee, it's usually because the pizza ran out before Johnny could get some or that Emma had to eat baked chicken instead of the good old-fashioned fried stuff. Taylor rarely responds by talking up her menus. "Marketing the low-fat, high-nutrient value of our school meals often backfires," she says. "Fewer children choose to eat with...
...challenge isn't just to get the kids to eat healthy, but also to make money. When Taylor took the job 14 years ago, she was told she had to turn a profit in her first year or find a new employer. The dietitian turned marketer has stayed in the black ever since. But balancing her budget while trying to boost nutrition in the 2,600 lunches served daily is tough. Mixed salad greens cost 13¢ more per serving than iceberg lettuce; a whole-wheat bun costs 5¢ more than a white one. Like every other U.S. school district, Shawnee...
Ironically, Taylor relies on junk-food sales to make her menu healthier. "This is where I make money," she says, her hand on a packet of Cool Ranch Doritos. "That money allows me to buy more fresh fruit and vegetables." Taylor makes other food healthier by stealth. Chicken nuggets are baked, not fried--a switch she made over spring break so kids would be less likely to notice. Pizza is topped with low-fat cheese, and the crust is whole wheat. She calls vegetarian beans "pork and beans" since, she says, "in Oklahoma no one knows what 'vegetarian beans' means...
...cost a little extra, but they boost sales. (When the shakers ran out at the middle school, salad sales dropped from 30 a day to 0.) The cafeterias resemble local eateries too. The Cub's Den at Shawnee Middle School looks just like a food court at a mall. Taylor has similarly revamped the serving areas at the high school--South of the Border serves Tex-Mex; Grandma's Corner has home-style cooking. Marketing is a necessity. "We're a business," Taylor says. "If your customers don't eat with you, you don't stay in business...
...there, unthawed, all year round. But while it was once consecrated to the pleasures of the privileged, the Icehouse is now enjoyed by many. And it's no longer a place to cool off. Instead, weekend nights are smoking hot - thanks to the smoldering licks of resident players Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band. Customers whistle, whoop and clap in cocktail-fuelled bonhomie as the band turns up the heat - and the sounds of bulldozing that seem to accompany every waking hour in modern-day Beijing seem far away indeed...