Healthy Kids School Canteen Association

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Marketing to Teenagers

Teenagers have the world’s largest source of disposable cash.  Each year teenagers contribute $5 billion to Australia’s economy.

So how do canteen managers attract students to make their purchases at the canteen? How do they compete with the corner store or big fast food companies that surround the school?

Below are a few tips that you may wish to use in your high school canteen:

1. Presentation and Hygiene
Teenagers look at the world more critically than children and notice if hygiene standards are not maintained. Have your canteen well lit with food packaged to prevent contamination when handled. If a student does witness poor hygiene they are likely to tell other students. The actual incident is likely to become more exaggerated with each account, and as a result students will become cautious when making purchases at the canteen. In one particular case, students refused to purchase foods that were not cooked or prepackaged due to a rumor about canteen staff not washing their hands before preparing food.

Other than informing all volunteers on safe food handling, a staff uniform, which can be as simple as an apron, disposable gloves and school cap, will convey to students that the canteen operates in a hygienic and professional manner.

Packaging food in clear containers has been shown to boost sales in school canteens. If you are worried about increasing the price of the product to include the packaging costs, trial it on a few food items at first and make the change after a school break. Students are less likely to baulk at the price after a period of absence.

2. Promotion
Adolescents are big impulse buyers. Have ‘specials’ written on menu boards and  display foods in bench-top fridges where they can see all their options. This may tempt students to try foods other than their regular order.

Special promotional days - To make them appealing to adolescents try the following:

• If it is a new food only make the offer available to seniors at first. This exclusivity will make the seniors feel special and make the juniors curious. 
• Make it good value and show how it is good value e.g. Chicken wrap + flavoured milk $4.00 (normally $4.50). If you sell enough of the deal, the increased quantity should offset the reduced profit per item. 
• Have a ‘promotion only line’. This will make it more appealing to students in a rush. 
• Play music that is chosen and organized by the SRC on promotion days. Have the teacher in charge of the SRC check the suitability of the songs. Students will learn that music means there is a promotional offer at the canteen.
• Recruit the SRC to announce the details at assembly. Have posters on notice boards and if possible place a message in the morning announcements that are read out during roll call.
• Seek the help of students when developing a promotional day theme. Make sure it is not too childish and suits your school type. Some events that may work as promotional days include; Valentine’s Day, sporting days, Grammy or MTV awards, exams, or holidays.

3. Student Involvement
Get students involved and make them feel important by asking for their opinion in surveys. Offer students who contribute to the surveys a discount or gift voucher. If you conduct a food trial ask your SRC for support.

If the canteen is run by the P&C, make students aware of where the profits go. Students who leave the school grounds to purchase food might be more inclined to buy food from the school if they knew how the profits were to be used. Have posters with the target amount in bold print outside the canteen.

If students do leave the school grounds to purchase food, speak to your principal about greater supervision at gates during recess and lunch. Schools have a duty of care. Regardless of age students should not leave the school grounds unless they have parental consent.

4. Menu Language
Use language that appeals to teenagers when naming or describing menu items. When writing your menu describe the items in detail using taste-tempting language. Describe the texture, the temperature and the taste of the food, even describe the way the food or drink is prepared.  Some useful words include succulent, tender crispy, smooth, freshly squeezed, oven baked, fresh, spicy, tasty, piping hot, chilled and crunchy.

Café and restaurant menus can also provide you with inspiration when looking for mouth-watering words.

Foods or meal deals can also be given a name. If you select a word used by students eg “choice” or “sweet”, to include in the name of the food make sure that it is a ‘cool’ word. If you choose a word that’s not currently ‘cool’, students will identify your efforts as “trying too hard”, and to be labelled a “try hard” is the worst insult possible when marketing to teenagers. To avoid making this mistake canteen managers should talk with student groups like the SRC, and find out what language is currently ‘cool’.

If your school is single-sex you can also use more gender specific language, such as “mighty”, “big” “super” when appealing to males or “light” “lean” and “scrummy” when appealing to females.