REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOOD SERVICE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1. Q. What are the actual full days of food service operations? Please clarify. A. Please refer to page 25 of the RFP document. The actual number of serving days is 167. 2. Q. What is the time and location of the mandatory walkthrough? A. Please refer to page 3 of the RFP document. The walkthrough will begin at the board of education offices located at 60 East 53 rd Street, Elmwood Park, NJ 07407 at 10:00 A.M. 3. Q. Are there any satellite operations outside of Elmwood Park District Schools? A. Yes, we currently have a vending contract with the Community Charter School Paterson located at 75 Spruce Street, Paterson, NJ 07501 to provide breakfast and lunch. 4. Q. How many children are served daily at the satellite location (Charter School Paterson)? A. Breakfast 59 Lunch 340 5. Q. How many actual full days of food service operations at the satellite location (Charter School Paterson)? A. The actual number of food service days at the Charter School Paterson is 185. 6. Q. Are there any catering operations outside of regular meal service? A. From time to time administrators, school clubs, and committees request light meals and coffee set up for various activities. Requests are also made for coffee set up for board meetings. These requests are mainly for the high school facilities. 1
7. Q. Are there any particular vending issue that a potential respondent should be aware of? A. Proceeds from the vending machines located in the board office and teacher s conference rooms will be shared with the Elmwood Park Education Association for a student scholarship program. 8. Q. What is the length of the lunch periods at the High School? A. The lunch periods (4) start at 10:40am and conclude at 2:00pm 9. Q. Is there an Open Lunch period A. Yes For seniors only 10. Q. Does the FMSC pay a commission to student activities? A. No. A 25% commission from the vending revenue is paid to the teacher s association. Six (6) vending machines are located in the various teacher s rooms and board office. 11. Q. Do we have lunch tickets or lunch cards? A. No QSP computerized POS registers are used in the high school. Coded rosters are utilized in the elementary schools. 12. Q. How are elementary lunches ordered? A. The lunches are ordered a week in advance. The sheets are sent home to the families and returned to the school with the money and the completed form. 13. Q. Is there a food service representative at the elementary schools? A. Yes. There are two (2) workers at each elementary school. 14. Q. Is there additional storage at the elementary schools? A. Yes. There is additional storage room in the elementary schools. 2
15. Q. How is lunch served on Election Day? A. In the event that schools are open on Election Day, alternate locations will be provided. 16. Q. Can a monthly elementary lunch schedule be obtained? A. Yes. Located with the attachments after page 25 of the RFP document. 17. Q. Is all food prepared at the High School? A. No. some food items are prepped at the High School. 18. Q. Whose van is in use? A. The FSMC s van is in use. 19. Q. Do the menus go out monthly? A. No. The menus go out weekly and are posted monthly. 20. Q. Are servers needed at all schools? A. Yes there are two (2) FSMC employees needed at each elementary school. 21. Q.Is no Styrofoam a requirement? A. Styrofoam is permitted. 22. Q. Are kindergarten students served lunch? A. Yes. There is a full day kindergarten program at all elementary schools and pre K students at two elementary schools. 3
23. Q. Does the FSMC employee serve the food? A. Yes. There are two (2) FSMC employees with an aide to assist in the serving and claiming of meals. 24. Q. How long are the lunch periods at the elementary schools? A. 16 th Avenue School 1.5 hours long 3 periods ½ hour each Gilbert Ave. and Gantner Ave. 2 hours 4 periods ½ hour each 25. Q. How is the vending machine revenue collected? A. The revenue is collected on a daily basis and added to the regular deposit (approximately $330.00 daily) 26. Q. How do you presently handle food allergies? A. Elmwood Park cafeteria does not sell peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Students with special requirements are handled on a case by case basis. 27. Q. Is breakfast served at the Middle/High School? A. Yes 28. Q. How many copies of the proposal are needed? A. One (1) copy is required. Prospective respondents may send more, but not more than five (5). 29. Q. Are the most recent months of the edit check worksheets available? A. Yes. Please refer to the link titled edit check worksheets. 30. Q. Is the incumbent FSMC s financial operating statement for the 2007 2008 school year available? A. Yes. Please refer to the link titled financial information. 4
31. Q. Is cafeteria staff organized? A. No. Please refer to page 25 of the RFP document. 32. Q. Is there a projected increase of total students coming into the district for the 2009 2010 school year? A. Yes. We are projecting ten (10) new elementary school students, thirty three (33) new middle school students and eleven (11) new high school students. The total student enrollment projection for the 2009 2010 school year is referenced on page 25 of the RFP document. 33. Q. Is audit information available for the 2007 2008 school year as well as the current school year? A. Yes. Audit information for the 2007 2008 school year will be available on the link titled audit information. Audit information for the current school year is included with the attachments after page 25 of the RFP document. 34. Q. What is the current year total school enrollment by school? A. Current year school enrollment information broken down by school is included with the attachments after page 25 of the RFP document. 35. Q. Are the 2007 2008 student and faculty menus available for price comparison purposes? A. Yes. The 2007 2008 student and faculty menus are available on the website under the Q&A portion titled 07 08 menu prices. 5