An interest in food services began in her childhood. She grew up around the industry, helping her mom, a regional director for a food service company, prepare menus. At five years old, she would make clip art for the food items. In July, Megan Haase became the Director of Dining Services, a job which includes menu planning, for East Lansing Public Schools and Dewitt Public Schools.
Haase has big plans for East Lansing dining services, including bringing in all Biggby coffee products to the high school and doing in-class taste testing.
Haase’s goal for the high school is to have higher quality, more exciting food. The changes she is implementing will help achieve this.
The new Biggby coffee products are expected to be brought in by December, which will be available during breakfast and lunch. But the changes don’t stop there.
“The next thing we’re going to look at is some upgrades into the serving line,” Hasse said. “We’re going to try to add some more menu options, and we would really like to go to classrooms and do surveys and taste testing to figure out what flavor profiles [the students] really like.”
Haase was raised among food service professionals.
Her next-door neighbor was the Director of Dining Services in her school district growing up. She would pick Haase up after school and take her
to her office.
“I grew up in a small town on a dirt road on 80 acres with one stoplight, and I lived there for 18 years,” Haase said.
But Haase hadn’t always planned to go into the food service industry. At Central Michigan University, her goal was to go into speech pathology. She ended up in real estate, but her love for food service and desire to be more involved with facilitating community motivated her to return to her roots.
“I love to see people get so excited about trying something new, and it just
brings so many people together,” Hasse said. “So trying to change what people think school lunch is, so kids don’t think, oh, it’s ‘school lunch’ and ‘school pizza.’ We’re trying to change that.”
Before becoming a joint director for East Lansing and Dewitt dining services, Haase worked at the Avondale School District. A promotion led her to her current position.
Some of her favorite parts of her job are menu and event planning.
“I love doing any type of event,” Haase said. “I love being in classrooms, so anything from throwing farmers markets to smoothie bikes, the bigger
the better.”
At Avondale School District, Haase coached cross-country and track, as she enjoys being involved and runs herself. She recently completed her first half marathon, and is now training for a full marathon.
Haase wants students to feel comfortable giving feedback on the food services at the high school.
“If students have any feedback, my door is always open,” Hasse said. “We want to make your program bigger and better and great for you guys. So if there’s anything that you guys want to see for school lunch or school breakfast, let me know.”
