School cafeterias look a lot different today than even twenty years ago. In the past, school nutrition generally translated to one or two hot meal options for lunch, while today, K-12 cafeterias look more like quick serve restaurants or food courts offering multiple hot menu items, salad bars, snacks, desserts, fruit, and more.
Couple this with the fact that students often are severely limited in the amount of time they have to eat, and that makes it even more critical for school nutrition programs to become more efficient, make better use of staff time, and offer more variety. This can be the difference between students participating in foodservice or going off-campus for lunch, and a school cafeteria's food serving lines can go a long way toward helping achieve these goals.
Multiteria M-Power offers customizable food serving stations to help K-12 cafeterias increase efficiency, visibility, and mobility. Because of this, Multiteria's M-Power products also help increase student participation, and they can be retrofitted without the need for a complete overhaul. Already known for their work in the healthcare and college and university foodservice industries, Multiteria's M-Power line now brings their expertise to the elementary, middle, and high school cafeterias.
This blog is a brief but comprehensive primer on M-Power and the different options it provides
How to Use M-Power
Multiteria's M-Power line is customizable to the needs of K-12 schools. The first step is choosing the make of the mobile serving line.
Make
M-Power offers three different makes of food serving stations for schools. They offer self-serve and full-service mobile serving lines, as well as islands.
Model
They offer hot, cold, utility, and cashier options depending on the customer's needs.
Hot: The Hot model has heated wells that offer longer holding times with more accurate temperatures.
Cold: The Cold model has a unique angled inside wall design that provides easy access and clear views. In addition, the angled wall and the placement of the cooling coils allow cold air to cover food items.
Utility: The Utility model has a heavy-duty 14-gauge stainless steel countertop from 48" to 94".
Cashier: The Cashier model is available in multiple styles: single-sided, single-sided ADA, island, and island ADA.
Colors
There are eight colors to customize the food shields and kick plates for a personalized look.
Laminates
In addition to customizing the color of the food shields, there are eleven standard laminates to customize the body.
Features & Custom Add-Ons
There are so many features and add-ons to customize the M-Power food serving stations to meet the needs of any K-12 cafeteria. The most common add-ons are tray slides, menu and laptop holders, USB ports, work ledges, removable cutting boards, hinged cook plates, lights/heat lamps, glove dispensers, sanitation stations, food guards, and removable panels.
Features of M-Power
Durability
Multiteria's M-Power line uses a durable all-welded stainless steel rigid frame, heavy-duty 14-gauge stainless steel countertop, and 6" heavy-duty swivel casters in all of the food serving stations for schools.
Versatility
M-power provides customizable solutions to meet the needs of any K-12 cafeteria. The cafeteria staff can also move the food serving stations through doorways because of their narrow bases, so they aren't limited to just the cafeteria.
Usability
Along with versatility, the customizable solutions that Multiteria provides with their M-Power products allow for usability. The customized food serving stations will maximize the space to its full potential with precisely what the cafeteria needs.
Color
The school cafeteria is a fun place to be for students. Not only is it time to eat, but it might be their only chance for a break during the school day. Therefore, the ability to customize the color on the food shields, kick plates, and body, is a fun way to have some school spirit.
Benefits of M-Power
Efficiency
One of the main benefits of M-Power's products is efficiency. Students can move faster through the lines with double-sided or self-serve model options. With the customizable solutions available, there is little to no space wasted.
Visibility
When the serving station is customized, there is more visibility, so students can see everything available.
Mobility
One of the best things about M-Power's mobile design is that the school service line doesn't have to reside in the cafeteria. One K-12 school that uses M-Power products offers after-breakfast service outside of the cafeteria.
More Revenue
With better efficiency, more visibility, and mobility, comes more revenue.
Which M-Power unit is right for you?
Not every option or color scheme will be right for your K12 school cafeteria. And with all the options M-Power provides, that can make it very difficult to select the right one or even to narrow it down to a few. Our team is happy to start a conversation with you to find out the perfect solution for your foodservice program.
