Calif. snack rules mean slimmer profits at student stores

Bags of chips line the shelves inside the student store at Patriot High School in Glen Avon. But the doughnuts and other fried snacks Erin Gutierrez remembers fondly from her freshman year are gone.
She still buys Cheetos Flamin' Hot snacks, but now they're the baked variety.
"They tasted nasty at first, but after eating it every day you kind of get used to it," said Gutierrez, 17, a senior.
Students had to do more than adjust to new tastes when new nutrition rules for California schools took effect in 2007-08.
Some school stores saw a dip in profits, which go toward school clubs and teams. Many clubs also relied heavily on their own candy sales, which went out the window with the new rules limiting fat and sugar.
The state rules only affect items that are sold during the school day, not treats for classroom parties or at after-school events.
The teacher who helps run Patriot High's student store said the rules have become easier to cope with as companies began repackaging items to meet the new rules.
"Last year was tough because the companies weren't equipped for it," said Jenna Dirkswager, a teacher in Riverside County's career technical education program. Her retail sales and marketing students operate the store.
Profits there fell by about 40 percent last school year from the previous year. This year Dirkswager expects to be about on par with the year before the rules took effect, when the store made about $25,000.
More costly ingredients mean higher prices, so the store now operates on a slimmer profit margin even though it charges more for some items. Pop-Tarts now come one to a package for 50 cents, instead of the 75-cent two-pack sold before the rules took effect.
Patriot's school store recently added Gummy Bears to its line-up, but others, like King High, have cut out the candy. The King store sells baked chips, fruit roll-ups, cookies and muffins.
Sales have remained strong at the King store, said Debi Blue, who teaches retail sales and marketing there. But she's not sure what will happen in January, when the school quits selling soda.
Starting in July, California schools cannot sell soda during the school day.
When the snack rules took effect, some students saw an opening to make a buck by selling candy themselves in violation of the law.
Teachers and administrators in Inland schools said that happens rarely now. Sheri Lazzarini, activities director at La Sierra High in Riverside, said she still hears about it occasionally.
She said some teachers unaware of the ban tell her they saw a student selling candy in class, and ask her whether a club is holding a sale.
Lazzarini said the clubs at La Sierra have taken a hit since the rules took effect. Clubs used to be able to buy candy at discount stores, then resell it for a 60 percent profit.
"Individual clubs are really struggling to get funds because they lost their candy sales," she said. A few have started selling packaged Rice Krispies Treats and Otter Pops frozen desserts but these sales haven't gone over as well as candy sales, she said.
Some clubs have come with new ideas to raise money. At Chaparral High School in Temecula, cheerleaders make money by running a camp where they teach cheers to elementary school girls, said July Hill-Wilkinson, the school's activities director
King students sell pens and "spirit beads," which look like Mardi Gras beads, in the school's class colors.
Nothing comes quite as easy as buying candy at discount stores and letting students sell it between classes, though.
Patriot High sophomore Jose Corral, 15, said he sold granola bars last year to raise money for Advancement Via Individual Determination, a program that helps students make it to college. He made $40 over three days.
"With candy, it would have been way more money," he said.
Students and teachers alike express skepticism that the new rules are helping to curb childhood obesity.
They note that students still can buy two packages of Pop-Tarts and three bags of chips. And the instant noodles that are a popular lunch item at Patriot's student store pack a sodium wallop with as much as 1360 milligrams.
"I think it was a well-intentioned idea," Hill-Wilkinson said. "I don't see students eating any more healthy than they had been before."
E-mail Shirin Parsavand at sparsavand(at)PE.com.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.