Impact of Brand-Name Fast Food Service on Students' Participation in School Lunch

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of offering brand-name fast food at schools on student participation in school lunch. Two studies were conducted in Indiana, USA. In the first study, daily participation rate of 42 Indiana schools were compared between the days when brand-name fast food were offered and when they were not offered. The impact of brand-name fast food service on school lunch participation differed depending on the types of service offering brand-name fast food. Offering brand-name fast food solely as part of reimbursable meals or a-la-carte items was shown to induce students to the lunch option where brand-name fast food was offered. The second study examined the relationship of brand-name fast food service to monthly participation rate by analyzing secondary data of 1,282 Indiana schools using multiple regression analysis. Offering brand-name fast food was associated with monthly participation rate in school lunch only when schools offered them solely a-la-carte. Based on the results of two studies, it was concluded that offering brand-name fast food induced students from other lunch options to the options where brand-name fast food was offered on the day of service. However, increased or decreased participation in school lunch only on a few days could have not impacted average school lunch participation over a month. It is recommended that schools planning to offer brand-name fast food should make it available as part of reimbursable school lunches so that usual school lunch eaters would not be distracted to a-la-carte lines. (J Community Nutrition 7(4): $201\～206$, 2005)