Agricultural Commerce, Business Development and Marketing
Florida “Seafood to Schools” Program
A Florida seafood company that wishes to sell products to a Florida school district -- whether the district is independent or whether it belongs to a buying group -- should first contact the district foodservice director to see if there is interest in buying the company’s products. There are minimum purchase requirements per month.
Most Florida school districts belong to one of two buying groups:
-- POWER Buying Group (38 school districts).
-- North Florida Buying Group (14 school districts).
The remaining districts are independent, and do not belong to a buying group (15 school districts).
Both buying groups use U.S. Foodservice, a national distribution company, to deliver products to the school districts.
A Florida seafood company that wants to explore the potential for selling products to school districts should follow these steps:
1. The seafood company should contact the individual school district foodservice director and arrange for a sales call.
2. The seafood company should be prepared to provide the food service director with nutrition and ingredient information of the products, and samples of the products for review and testing.
3. If the review and testing results are favorable, and the product is accepted by the foodservice director, the director will submit a new item request to the chairperson of the buying group and the U.S. Foodservice representative.
4. U.S. Foodservice will contact the seafood company, arrange to pick up the product, and deliver it to the school district.
Program Tools
- Participating Florida Schools
- Participating Florida Seafood Companies
- Background Information About Florida "Seafood to Schools"
Multimedia
View "Seafood to Schools" MapRelated Links
- POWER Buying Group
- U.S. Foodservice
Contact Us About the Florida “Seafood to Schools” Program
Division of Marketing and Development
Bureau of Seafood and Aquaculture Marketing
The Collins Building, Innovation Park
2051 East Dirac Drive
Tallahassee, Florida 32310
Martin May
(850) 617-7280
(850) 617-7281 Fax
Martin.May@FreshFromFlorida.com
