As K-12 schools have struggled with the logistics of reopening amid a pandemic, so, too, have the businesses that serve them.
Take Kleinpeter Farms Dairy, which supplies dozens of school systems, both public and Catholic, between Lafayette and Slidell with that all-important staple of school lunches: milk.
But with school systems or individual institutions changing plans on the fly, opening then closing again for a day or maybe a week, or meeting in-person for only part of the week, it has been a challenge for the dairy—which derives as much as 40% of its revenues from school lunch contracts—to plan for demand without stretching limited resources too thin.
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“It’s not a challenge,” says Kleinpeter General Sales Manager Kenny Kleinpeter, who runs the family-owned business with his sister, President and CEO Sue Anne Kleinpeter Cox. “It’s a nightmare.”
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The difficulty comes not just from having to pivot, often at the last minute, to accommodate schools that may need more or less milk than originally ordered, but from the fact that the dairy itself is short employees.
The Airline Highway milk processing plant has not had an outbreak of COVID-19 or any sick employees. But Kleinpeter says throughout the spring and summer, workers have had to self-quarantine because of exposure or potential exposure to someone with the virus.
Read on for the rest of the story from Daily Report‘s Aug. 19 edition. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.