Del. workers charge $195K in fast-food

Delaware is going to need more bike trails.

State workers spent $195,000 last year on fast-food, according to an analysis of spending on state-issued credit cards.

That's $534 per day, including weekends.

"I hope they're eating salad," said Rita Landgraf, Delaware's Health Secretary. "Or the fruit and yogurt."

The News Journal's analysis includes procurement-card charges at restaurants coded as fast-food in state data. Charges included in the analysis were made during fiscal year 2014, which ended June 30.

Delaware's database does not include information on what meals employees ordered.

But there are some favorite spots: Capriotti's, the iconic Delaware sub shop, is among them.

State employees charged at least $11,346 in food last year at Capriotti's, including about $9,200 at a location on Del. 10 near Dover.

The king of fast food joints, according to state employees? Chick-fil-A. State employees charged $13,180.43 at a north Dover location alone last year, and at least $19,048 total at the chain.

McDonald's was popular, too: state employees spent at least $11,483 at dozens of locations.

Workers also charged $9,471 at Dunkin' Donuts, with police agencies accounting for just $241 of that spending.

Sue Snider, a food and nutrition professor at the University of Delaware, said it's possible that employees chose nutritious meals, like picking the grilled, instead of fried, chicken.

Or salads over burgers.

"Just because you go to a fast-food restaurant to eat, doesn't necessarily mean you are not eating well," Snider said.

"Having said that, many people go for the Big Macs and the Supersize, or the large sodas," she added. "You just have to know what to choose."

Robert Scoglietti, a spokesman for the Delaware Office of Management and Budget, said there are many instances in which using the state credit card for food, even fast-food, can be acceptable and even encouraged.

Using purchasing cards for meals while traveling can ensure that employees remain within spending limits, he said. Emergency workers – Department of Transportation employees plowing roads during a snowstorm, for example – may be eligible to charge meals during a shift.

Food could also be purchased on some overtime shifts. And meals can be supplied during a training function, retreat or workshop, Scoglietti said.

In many cases, "employees do not have a hour to sit down at a restaurant" and fast-food is a sensible option, Scoglietti said by email.

The state does encourage healthy options, Scoglietti added. Delaware's DelaWell Health Portal includes meal planners and healthy recipes. State workers also have access to health coaches and discounted membership at Weight Watchers.

Not all fast-food charges in Delaware's credit card database are for burgers and fries.

On March 12 last year, an administrative specialist at the Delaware Division of the Arts made a $2,534 charge at Conrad Cafe at Delaware State University.

Arts division director Paul Weagraff said the money covered a catering service for a reception and awards ceremony recognizing nearly 300 artists. The menu included a cheese tray with crackers and flatbreads, fruit with a honey-yogurt dipping sauce, assorted cookies, bottled water and fruit punch.

"When the Division of the Arts hosts an event like this, we are always conscious of cost, healthy foods, and people with dietary restrictions," Weagraff said.

Yet everyone is not so health conscious.

Other popular fast-food spots for state employees include Domino's in Georgetown, which recorded $4,253 in transactions. The prime recipients there were employees at Delaware Technical Community College's Owens campus.

Department of Education credit cards registered the most fast-food charges last year, with $48,983 in fast-food bills. That total includes spending at the school-district level.

Cape Henlopen School District, for example, registered 74 fast-food transactions totaling $9,941. District employees spent $3,241 at Surf Bagel on Del. 1 in Lewes.

Mary Kate McLaughlin, chief of staff at the Delaware Department of Education, said the almost $49,000 is the total amount of what the department calls Department 95, which includes the state's school districts and charters, plus the 275 employees in the department. She said she could not speak to the healthy, or unhealthy, choices made based on the state credit card coding alone.

For example, she wrote in an e-mail, Panera Bread is considered fast food.

"When people travel, we do not have policies or guidelines in place requiring or outlining healthy eating, just regarding cost," McLaughlin wrote in the e-mail. "So we would assume people are making their choices based on convenience and cost."

Among the transactions was a $124.08 charge from the office of the State Elections Commissioner in September 2013. Elections Commissioner Elaine Manlove said she frequently purchases platters and dishes every month from Capriotti's and the North Dover Chick-fil-A for workshops she holds with different elections departments.

The workshops are to work and develop new tools and technology for voting, like ballot-less voting for those overseas, she said. Manlove said she'd get healthier food, all salads even, if she knew where.

"Is there a place I could do that?" Manlove asked.

Contact Jon Offredo at (302) 678-4271, on Twitter @jonoffredo or at joffredo@delawareonline.com. Contact Jonathan Starkey at (302) 983-6756, on Twitter @jwstarkey or at jstarkey@delawareonline.com.