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Take the New Look of School Milk challenge — check off (in your head, of course) all that apply:

• Yes, I want to make a tangible contribution to my district's wellness goals
• Yes, I want to transform healthy choices into appealing ones that students actually pick and prefer to eat or drink
• Yes, I want my students to drink more milk
• Yes, I want to attract more students to my meal line

If you answered YES to any of the statements above then the time is right to request milk in plastic bottles and get the New Look of School Milk program for your kids! Seize the opportunity this bid season to investigate getting milk in plastic bottles from your area's dairy processors.

Bid it Before? Bid it Again!

With almost 7,000 schools serving the New Look of School Milk, school nutrition professionals in districts across the country have placed milk in plastic bottles on their bids and have been successful in obtaining and affording them. However, this didn't necessarily happen after bidding milk in plastic bottles just once. Sometimes it took twice, three times or even more, as can be seen by these examples:

Forsyth County School System

Susan Woods, director of school nutrition for Forsyth County School System, in Cumming, Ga., was determined to get the New Look of School Milk, which wasn't available in her area. She requested it on her bid for about five years. "Milk was the only product that children were being offered in outdated paperboard cartons and it wasn't appealing enough for our savvy students," explains Woods. "I wanted my kids to drink more milk to get the calcium for proper growth and development, so I was persistent about asking for it in plastic bottles."

Woods was asked by Mayfield, her processor, to be on a task force to evaluate local schools' interest in purchasing milk in plastic bottles and participate in a pilot to see if milk consumption and meal participation increased with plastic bottles. "I think I was chosen to be on the task force because of the interest I had shown through my bid," comments Woods. "The pilot was successful and gave us the proof that the New Look of School Milk would work." The program is now implemented district-wide, generating a milk sales increase of 9% and making a substantial contribution to the Average Daily Participation increases at breakfast (26%) and at lunch (15%).

Arlington Heights School District 25

Looking to increase her students' milk consumption, Coletta Hines-Newell, director of food services for Arlington Heights School District 25, was confident milk in plastic bottles would work. "I heard speakers from other districts report their successes with milk in plastic bottles and was convinced it would boost the 'customer acceptability' with my students and they would drink more milk," says Hines-Newell.

Being from a small district, Hines-Newell is part of a buying co-op, but milk was not part of that bid. Realizing that volume was needed to "make milk in plastic bottles doable," Hines-Newell worked diligently for three years to get other districts in the area on-board and bid milk together to create the volume processors would need to make providing it feasible. "Bidding milk in plastic bottles each year let processors in our area know that we were really serious about our request," says Hines-Newell. "This year we now have milk in plastic bottles, kids who are excited about drinking milk and a milk sales increase of 9%. It wasn't an easy process for us, but I am certain it is the right thing to do for kids."

Get Bidding Tips

So, are you ready to put milk in plastic bottles on your bid and start increasing milk sales and consumption and boosting meal participation? Download the Bidding Milk in Plastic Bottles FAQ's, procurement tips and sample bid language.

For additional help in getting the New Look of School Milk, contact your local Dairy Council®.