Thanks to a smart purchasing strategy and efficient menu planning, the Virginia Department of Corrections, which serves 108,000 meals each day to 32,000 inmates across 59 prisons, has been able to maintain a food cost of $1.78 per day (per inmate). Sam Wood, foodservice director, says most of his cost-saving success comes from spot buys, overruns and mistakes. For example, he purchased chicken nuggets from a major burger chain and meatloaf from a casual-dining chain after each changed product formulations. Another great deal was found, he says, when a manufacturer did not put key ingredients into 12 truck-loads of another casual-dining chain's signature biscuits. "I bought them all," he says proudly.
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