Summers are for celebrating! Get tips on how to celebrate your team, celebrate recent successes with your colleagues, and vote for your choice for the Ignite Innovation Award!
from the editors
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Success & Celebration!
Speak Up! We can’t wait to hear from you!
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Becki Swan
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Make your day easier with AI Annelise McAuliffe Soares, Ready Foods From the Show Floor Learn from Delfield at NRA Show 2023 Podcast Spotlight Check-in with your favorite featured podcasts
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You did it! Your team has made it through yet another school year! From what we can tell, your programs are growing and becoming more and more innovative year after year - so you have a lot to celebrate! Voting to select the winner of the Ignite Innovation Award is now open! Make sure to check out pages 24-29 to read the stories of the Top 10 finalists and choose your winners for the Operator and Industry Innovation Awards. Voting closes at midnight on June 28th. We hope you are encouraged and motivated by these pages to celebrate every success - both big and small with your teams. Lastly, THANK YOU, for all you do everyday to feed children healthy meals and improve the lives of those around you. You are truly a community worth celebrating. NxtGen Network is excited to celebrate with all of you in less than a month at Ignite in Denver, Colorado.
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Industry awards spotlight K-12 foodservice innovation and excellence
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Lisa Turner
LMT Media Partners & Served Contributor
From the Show Floor Learn from Daring at NRA Show 2023
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Learning from others: USFA trains the trainers at the CIA in San Antonio, TX
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Speak up! We can’t wait to hear from you! By harnessing the potential of social media positively, we can build bridges, inspire change, and create a more connected and vibrant world.
Social media has truly revolutionized our lives, bringing forth a myriad of positive influences. It has seamlessly connected people from all corners of the globe, fostering a sense of global community and facilitating the exchange of ideas and cultures. Through social media, we can easily stay connected with friends and family, regardless of distance. It has provided platforms for creative expression, allowing individuals to showcase their talents and passions to a vast audience. Social media has also played a pivotal role in promoting important causes, raising awareness, and mobilizing support for charitable initiatives. Moreover, it has empowered individuals to access knowledge, learn new skills, and engage in meaningful conversations. By harnessing the potential of social media positively, we can build bridges, inspire change, and create a more connected and vibrant world. Celebrating your team on social media is an incredible way to showcase their achievements and foster a sense of pride and camaraderie. By sharing success stories, accomplishments, and milestones, you not only recognize the hard work and dedication of your team members but also inspire others who follow your social media channels. It creates a positive image of your team and organization, showcasing a culture of collaboration and excellence. Celebrating your team on social media also strengthens your professional network as it attracts attention and engagement from parents, students, community partners, and industry peers. It amplifies the impact of your team’s accomplishments, generating greater visibility and recognition.
“Celebrating your team on
social media is an incredible way to showcase their achievements and foster a sense of pride and camaraderie.”
Additionally, it encourages team members to feel valued and appreciated, boosting morale and motivation. By actively contributing to discussions, sharing valuable insights, and offering constructive feedback, you become an integral part of the community. This involvement allows you to build connections, expand your network, and establish your presence as a knowledgeable professional. Actively participating in social media groups not only enhances your visibility and credibility but also provides an opportunity to learn from others and gain new perspectives. It fosters a sense of collaboration and community, where ideas are shared, relationships are nurtured, and meaningful connections are forged. (Read as: Participate! Don’t just be a “lurker”) There are several school nutrition specific social media groups and pages to follow Keep Reading
Join the conversation
things. Joe Urban from Greenville County Schools in South Carolina is another excellent example of highlighting your program and team. When you are proud of what you do, it shows!
and participate in. Each has their own group administrator(s) and each serves a different purpose. It’s important to find where you are most comfortable, but also expand your options. It is important to remember that each group exists to enhance your already amazing program. It only works if you participate though.
Celebrating employees is a total game- changer. It’s like throwing a party where
everyone’s a superstar. The benefits are off the charts! When you celebrate your employees, you give them a confidence boost that powers their motivation and keeps them fired up. It creates a positive vibe in the workplace and strengthens the bond among team members. Plus, it shows that you appreciate their hard work and that their efforts don’t go unnoticed. Happy employees are more likely to stick around, giving you a kick-ass team that’s ready to conquer anything.
The size of your district, number of employees, students or meals you serve makes no difference in the amount of celebration and recognition your team deserves. One district that does an amazing job at this is West New York, New Jersey with Sal Valenza at the helm. Any day of the week you can check out their Facebook page and see food that is delicious and healthy being served to the lucky students just outside of the big city. Sal doesn’t just
“Celebrating employees is a total game-
changer. It’s like throwing a party where everyone’s a superstar. The benefits are off the charts!”
So, let’s break out the confetti, crank up the music, and celebrate those rockstar employees who make your organization shine!
promote the delicious food they serve, though. Sal makes it a point to shout it from the rooftops and call them out by name when his team does extraordinary
Becki has been a part of the school nutrition community since 2010. She is the owner of FIG K12 and is passionate about helping others grow into their best self to reach their top potential. In addition to FIG K12, Becki and her husband, Dusty, also own Swan Solutions where they focus on school nutrition technology consulting. Together Becki and Dusty have 2 boys, Alex and Lincoln. They live in Pensacola, Florida and love enjoying the sunshine and beach and scuba diving as a family. www.figk12.com | www.swansolutionsllc.com FIG K12 Becki Swan
Make your day easier with AI
Days are long, there’s lots to do. How do you make your day easier to preserve yourself? (You and your team are the most important resource in your department, after all!) Use AI tools like ChatGPT to enhance the work you’re doing and make your time more effective. Here are a few simple ways to incorporate it into your daily routine. We’d love to hear how AI is making your day easier!
On-Trend Menu Ideas Looking for info on top trending menu items? Ask ChatGPT! We asked for top food menu trends for a certain generation (Hey, Gen Alpha) or young people in general and it quickly spat out data-backed options. Looking for ideas to use up a rogue pallet
Create Announcements Need to send a school-wide email to all
families or teachers? Ask ChatGPT to help make your notes more concise, into a professional communication. Not because you can’t, but because you have other problem- solving tasks to put your mind on. Summarize an Article Want to read a long article or study about a new food standard, but just haven’t found the time?
of canned peaches? (Or other random ingredients in your kitchen.) Ask ChatGPT! This tool is able to provide an approachable list in less time than
Send a link of the article to
ChatGPT and ask for a summary. Done!
it took our team to brainstorm 10 options. From there, our team could sift through the ideas to quickly make a decision.
Learning how to use AI to sharpen your skills, save you time and make your work more effective will serve your team well for years to come.
Graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Annelise has spent her career making sure food sounds appetizing on paper, looks good in pictures and tastes amazing when you order it. Her day-to-day consists of working as Marketing Manager at Ready Foods to connect food service operators with ready-to-use kitchen solutions that are easy to incorporate into a kitchen flow and bring great flavor to menu items. Her favorite hot lunch in elementary school was always nacho day. Ready Foods Annelise McAuliffe Soares
NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION @ NRA
VIDEO WILL GO HERE
Fresh Solutions, Fit For You At Delfield, our mission is to replace that complexity with a simplicity and stability that lets you focus on the work that really matters
Marcy Mathews and Tim Wilczak from Delfield share an exciting new product at the NRA Show. Delfield is proud to showcase their Flexiwell product, a flexible multi-temperature well system. This new product features individually controlled hot/cold/freeze combination wells for optimizing your operation and saving space. Future proof your operation with the ability to serve what you want, when you want it.
most. By setting up a strong foundation with our direct, streamlined approach, you’ll enjoy an effortless efficiency that permeates through the entire organization.
Visit Delfield at Booth #313 at SNA ANC in July!
Even if your menu is set today, who knows what tomorrow will bring.
Delfield.com | 800-733-8821
Podcast Spotlight Each edition we’ll bring you the freshest podcast content to boost your programs,
your knowledge, and hopefully your mood. Grab a coffee, wine, or even your walking shoes and listen in.
46 min The Importance of a Smile
Welcome back to another episode of the Next Up Podcast! In this episode, we connected with Shani Hall, General Manager of Student Nutrition Services at Hillsborough County Schools, Lori Drenth, Director of Food Services in Hernando County Schools, Conor Doyle, Marketing Manager at AmTab, and Steve Samikkanu, General Manager at Amtab. We spoke about increasing student engagement and participation, the importance of hospitality in this post-COVID age, and the work Conor and Steve are doing with AmTab to create modern, popular, and fun food courts and learning environments.
About
The Next Up Podcast series is the landing place for those interested in thought leadership. Here you’ll find the podcast versions of our Live talk show, Premier talk show, and stand alone podcasts. We focus on having real, and open conversations with the most inspiration, intellectual, innovative, individuals.
56 min Breaking out of Complacency
For this episode I made the trip to Colorado to meet with my good friend, Shannon Soloman, of Aurora Public Schools . Our conversation included her winning the FES Top Achiever award, it being the first time someone from K-12 won, how and why K-12 operators need to tell their story, and some of the innovative solutions she’s providing her kids including Drive-Throughs! Make sure you buckle up, this is going to be one wild ride!
38 min Staying Fresh with Reitano Design Group
In this episode, Marlon spoke with Scott Reitano, Principal of Reitano Design Group. Scott shared about how he went from being a Manufacturers Rep to a Client Advocate, how Reitano Design Group helps Districts and Food Service Directors understand they have a voice that needs to be heard, and the difference we’re seeing with Gen Z and Alpha in relation to their eating habits. Listen in to this episode to find out more!
34 min Unleashing the Power of Fresh Food
On this episode of Next Up, Marlon and Nisha meet with Fork Farms Co-Founder and President, Alex Tyink. We find out how Alex went from being an Opera Singer to discovering Hydroponics, and then creating Fork Farms as we know it today. He discusses the Flex Farm, how it works, and how they’re giving children equal access to fresh food because of it. Tune in to this episode to find out more about Fork Farms!
About
The Next Up Podcast series is the landing place for those interested in thought leadership. Here you’ll find the podcast versions of our Live talk show, Premier talk show, and stand alone podcasts. We focus on having real, and open conversations with the most inspiration, intellectual, innovative, individuals.
68 min Rocking School Food Excellence
School Food Rocks was in the house today and I was lucky enough to catch up with my two good friends, Joe Urban and Lauren Couchois. We spoke about their passions, experiences, ethics, and what they are doing to help ensure School Food Rocks across the country. There might even be some firsts that were shared in this episode so make sure you tune in because you’re definitely not going to want to miss this!
About
In this episode Joe & Lauren talk with Frank Samuelson from Butterball about everything Turkey & what is happening in our current industry! Frank Samuelson from Butterball Foodservice 64 min Talking Turkey with
The School Food Rocks Podcast is a platform hosted by Joe Urban to discuss important topics with stakeholders from across the country regarding school food, the challenges facing districts, upcoming legislation, and sharing best
practices for a positive impact nationwide.
About
29 min Episode 21 – Missy Poirier
The Institute of Child Nutrition is proud to present the podcast, iBites, where you will learn about all aspects of child nutrition programs. From research to resources, from oral histories to best practices, each iBites will feature a wealth of information
Join Chef Patrick as he welcomes back Missy Poirier, the Nutrition Services Director of Jurupa Unified School District, for an insightful conversation about changing roles and advancing in the ranks of Child Nutrition Programs. Hear firsthand about Missy’s journey from district chef to her current role and gain valuable insights into the world of school nutrition. Don’t miss this exciting episode of our podcast!
to help promote the continuous improvement of child nutrition programs.
Highlights & High-Fives
Who wants some new menu ideas? Thinking about engaging not only your students but the families you serve? Welcome to our column featuring bites of nutrition knowledge and insight for your team’s menu creation needs. We love a good theme at Pisanick Partners and have curated and crafted some of our favorite “Harvest of the Month”, “Simply Fresh”, “Global Trends’’, and “Comfort Classic’’ recipes to ignite your team’s idea engines. Our free digital cookbook resource is full of these recipes. Speaking of celebrating successes - our team launched a first edition print cookbook that is packed with
The 2022-23 school year was full of so many successes for our partner school’s kitchens. Many implemented new programs, tried new menu items, offered more choice on their serving lines, provided engagement with students and parents, developed new skills, had glowing Administrative Reviews (AR) and the list goes on! We are so proud of all of our partner school districts and would like to give a ‘high-five’ to some of this school year’s highlights. IMPROVING CHOICE We encourage schools, particularly elementary buildings, to implement produce bars as a way to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption and offer students choice. Did you know kids’ eating habits are first determined by around 2-5 years of age then again at 10-11 years old? Their tastes really do not change again until early adulthood. That is why it is so important to have repeated exposure opportunities of new foods and not to be afraid to try, try again! The eating environment and offering choice is important when it comes to new food exposure. Produce or salad bars check all these boxes! Turnkey resources can make implementing a salad/ produce bar easier than you may think. We have worked with districts to implement produce bars around theme concepts, such as: Eat the Rainbow, Growing with Green, Variety is the SPICE of Life and Go Loco for Local. Checkout these awesome Eat the Rainbow produce bars put together by an elementary school that operated their first school year as part of the National School Lunch Program. Join us in celebrating our partner school districts successes from 2022-23
easy to prepare recipes which are scaled for both your school kitchens and for the homes of the families we
Other schools in the region have also committed to offering fresh produce daily and even implementing local farm to school efforts. This allows the students to try the foods that are grown in their own home state. ENHANCED SKILL BUILDING We love hands-on professional development days and had the
serve! Wellness committees, parent organizations, and school clubs can all get in on the action of creating these favorite recipes - many of which are inspired by trends in copycat recipes, nostalgic foods and upcycling ingredients. Spark joy in creation and elevate participation in your school community - Sign-up to pre-order this book and get your copy today!
opportunity to do a collaborative multi-district one this year. Pisanick Partner districts, East Cleveland and Woodridge, worked collaboratively on recipe development for our first hard copy cookbook ( Click here to preorder a copy)! What better way to enhance skills than to gather different districts together and let them learn from each other? These teams worked side by side to make, test and taste recipes. Their collaboration and ambition, along with their practical feedback, helped to develop delicious recipes that could be taken back to their kitchens and shared with their students.
FUN ENGAGEMENT In several ways a simple box was the vehicle for some of the most engaging and fun programs this year. We conducted a Mystery Box Challenge where 10 different districts were presented with a box of ingredients and asked to submit their own recipes with the mystery box of ingredients presented to them. This proved to be a great way to see how imaginative food service staff can be. Jess Stone and her team at Woodridge Local Schools were the competition winners with a veggie meatball and spicy pasta sauce recipe. They even took the challenge further and engaged with staff and students to taste the recipe and submitted a video of their feedback.
children creating each recipe. We found these chefs-in- the-making to be adorable and heartwarming.
Try Days are also always a fun way to engage with students. Our partner school districts conducted many try days with items like local watermelon radish and homemade pizza made with a locally made pizza dough.
GLOWING ARs Districts should never fear an impending administrative review from the state agency. It should be an opportunity to showcase and celebrate your program and staff’s dedication to child nutrition. Congratulations to all of the districts in our Pisanick family (Copley, Garfield, Jackson Local, Plain Local, Maple Heights, and Scioto Valley) that had an AR this year! You are the pioneers of “business as usual” after the pandemic. You showed that you can comply with the USDA guidelines and feed students nutritious meals. A special shout-out to our new schools (St. Columbkille and St. Albert the Great) that joined the NSLP this year and had great AR’s as well!
The excitement and creativity was shown in every entry presented. There were videos of recipes put to music, involvement by entire kitchen teams, step by step recipe instructions provided, taste testing by students and staff and even some theatrical presentations. Look out Food Network! The presentations were first class and it was great to see.The judges had such a hard time picking just one winner. When all was said and done everyone was a winner so superlative awards were given to all. The submitted entrees were made into a cookbook and then modified to be turned into school compliant recipes.
Successes can be big or small and can be attention getting or go relatively unnoticed, however it really is the daily hard work of all of our partners and their dedication to their programs that is the best measure of success.
A box, filled with ingredients to make a recipe, was also used to provide family engagement with our partners at Lorain
Meet the Pisanick Partners leadership team
County Head Start. They provided families with a box of ingredients to make a recipe. Participants watched
(From left to right) Marge Robison, MPH, RDN-LDN; Sarah Carlson, MS, RD-LD; David Pisanick, Co-Founder, CFO; Maureen Pisanick, RDN- LDN Founder,
the program’s chef and one of our dietitians create the recipe and provide nutrition education about the recipe. Families loved this program and one family that participated was so inspired that they started to turn the program into their own Tik Tok videos of the
CEO; Tina Hastings, Operations Specialist; Gina Nash, Operations Specialist (not pictured)
Pisanick Partners is a nutrition and operations based consulting firm with decades of experience in Child Nutrition. We have refined our approach through creation of cycle menus, training and development of staff, and implementing strategies that take on the task of not only attaining nutritional excellence, but also financial success in the K-12 environment. Our experience not only supports a school district in meeting all state and federal mandates for implementing the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, but also the menu creation with an eye for detail and meticulous organization. The objective is to quickly and accurately evaluate, analyze and organize a district’s nutritional program to insure compliance and easy on-going maintenance.
Celebrating participation increase success
When it comes to school nutrition there are so many different things that can be celebrated.
Each and every day deserves celebration just from the simple fact of running a successful school nutrition department. School nutrition professionals across the country are responsible for providing amazing meals to students and putting smiles on their face every day. Another reason to celebrate comes in the form of school nutrition participation increasing! Recently King Middle School in Kentucky underwent a modernization project where they saw their breakfast and lunch numbers skyrocket. Why did they go up? Let’s take a look and see! Help to this middle school came in the form of brand-new food court furniture. The previous furniture in the cafeteria was very old and outdated. It wasn’t an inviting place for students to be, despite all the great meals that the staff was serving. They decided to add different tables
varieties to the mix as well as incorporate their school logos on the table which were a massive hit for the students. How much of a massive hit? Let’s look at the numbers. King Middle School breakfast numbers before modernizing with AmTab was 159 students. After modernizing it jumped up to 336 students. They were serving 412 students during lunch prior to AmTab coming into the fold.After their food court transformation, they had 536 students enjoying school lunch meals. That is a 111% increase in breakfast and a 30% increase in lunch participation. What a great success story this turned out to be! From struggling participation numbers and a bland environment to a huge jump in participation as well as beautiful furniture. If you would like to learn more about the modernization process, be sure to check out www.amtab.com .
Want to join us at our FALL SYMPOSIUM? Fill out this interest form now to get on the list! Click Here!
Conor Doyle
AmTab Manufacturing
Conor is actively involved in this school nutrition company who helps provide valuable insight on café modernization projects across the country. His favorite part about working with schools is knowing that students and staff will love their modernized spaces. Being able to transform ordinary environments to extraordinary ones that students love being a part of is amazing! Conor graduated from DePaul University with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing.
AmTab.com
HYDROPONIC FARMING + SCHOOL NUTRITION
Seed to tray in inches, not miles
VISIT US AT SNA ANC BOOTH #2124!
Everyone is a farmer with the Flex Farm - the most simple to use and efficient vertical farm. Increase participation with the freshest produce on the planet. Learn more at www.forkfarms.com.
Industry awards spotlight K-12 foodservice innovation and excellence INDUSTRY NEWS FOODSERVICE IN EDUCATION TAKES A SEAT AT THE TABLE
K-12 Foodservice was recently recognized with two significant industry awards shining a light on the outstanding work and innovation in this foodservice segment. Shannon Solomon, MS, SNS Director, Nutrition Services Aurora Public Schools in Colorado , received the prestigious Top Achievers Operator award from Foodservice Equipment & Supplies magazine . The awards committee selected Shannon and her operation above all Foodservice categories in the nation. It is the first time a K-12 dining program has ever received this award. Jessica Shelly, MBA, SNS, REHS Director, Student Dining Services, Cincinnati Public Schools , was named the 2023 Gold Plate Award winner by the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA ) . She was one of nine executives representing all Foodservice categories eligible for the award after earning recognition as a IFMA Silver Plate award winner in the Elementary & Secondary Schools category. This is the first time in 29 years that the K-12 category was selected for the Gold Plate Award. When asked how these awards impact the K-12 foodservice industry, Solomon and Shelly were quick to point out how this acknowledgment and recognition will help the general public and even those in the foodservice industry to understand the importance of this segment to all communities across the country in shaping young lives by teaching children healthy eating habits.
Shannon Solomon MS, SNS Director, Nutrition Services Aurora Public Schools Colorado
Jessica Shelly MBA, SNS, REHS Director, Student Dining Services Cincinnati Public Schools Ohio
Keep Reading
NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION @ NRA
LINK HERE
Dare to SERVE up some Daring?
Join Marlon and Cody Cooper, Head of Foodservice at Daring, as they talk about, and TASTE, their plant-based chicken sandwich at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago. If you’re looking to add plant-based chicken to your menus next year, look no further. This product has the NxtGen Network seal of tastiness all over it.
Daring Plant Chicken looks, cooks, and tastes uncannily chicken-y, yet
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ingredients. Let Daring level up your menu for chicken lovers of all kinds.
Daring.com | 855-UNCLUCK
INDUSTRY NEWS FOODSERVICE IN EDUCATION TAKES A SEAT AT THE TABLE
“My hope is that K-12 will be acknowledged and embraced not just as a cafeteria-style industrial feeding operation but as the quality restaurants we are,” said Solomon who spent the first part of her career working for Yum Brands in restaurant hospitality.“School dining operations are the leading restaurant brands in every community they serve. We serve the most breakfasts and lunches in our communities. Service is service, not matter what type of dining operation you run.” She also stated that she hopes equipment manufacturers and food providers will realize that K-12 is as significant as any other restaurant category. “They can help innovate for high volume food operations like ours and create more healthy options for kids.” Shelly, who serves 50,000+ meals a day, said she always believed that the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act that was enacted in 2010 was really targeting the class of 2024. The act allowed the USDA to set health standards—for the first time in 30 years—for school meals that she says have taught children to now expect fruits and vegetables at every meal and has shaped their taste buds as future adult diners. “Our preschoolers who grew up after this was enacted know no difference from healthy eating.” “K-12 deserves to be highlighted,” Shelley emphasized, “We’re educators, too, along with the math and English teachers, we are teaching good nutrition. We have an active kitchen
laboratory where we experiment with new food flavors, textures, and cultures every day introducing our kids to a vast variety of healthy foods.” She added that the work all schools do everyday in the dining room helps reduce long- term health costs for conditions like diabetes and obesity. “We are the healthy food choice.” Innovation and collaboration set these two dynamic directors apart. Solomon, who serves approximately 38,000 meals a day, runs her school dining program as the restaurant that is truly is. She treats her students as restaurant patrons. She uses a mystery shopper program, invites parents in and is launching a drive- thru foodservice for high schools. Her dining experience includes music and inviting décor. The high school dining area has TVs running sports programs and she has created an in- house restaurant brand: A-Town Eats. It appeals to teens who like dining at popular QSRs. For her K-8 students, she is collaborating with an equipment manufacturer to develop a hydraulic servicing line that moves up and down to adjust to the height of her growing kids. And she partners with local restaurants such as Domino’s and Chick-Fil-A to build a branded product with the correct K-12 nutritionals that she can serve to her kids. Shelly says K-12 is the only foodservice segment that shares successful strategies and ideas with their peers. “No other restaurant segment does that. We support each other and share our successes and dedication to our kids.
local economy here in Cincinnati. It’s important that the products I serve and who serves them reflect our own community and that the kids see themselves and where they live in their school dining environment.” Shelly also believes strongly in collaborating with food and equipment providers. “We like to work with our foodservice partners to build a better product. Most other foodservice categories really don’t do that.” Marlon Gordon, of NxtGen Network, a foodservice marketing company, says these awards are cause for celebration. “This recognition of K-12 dining operations is much deserved and I’m glad to see it finally happening on a national scale,” He further remarked, “Before launching NxtGen, I worked in a school district foodservice program, and I also have experience on the industry side. I have seen what these school programs can do and the results of their efforts—healthy children who are learning about proper nutrition. We finally have a seat at the national table.” Solomon and Shelly also made a point to recognize their kitchen staff—their “teams.” Shannon added, “I stand on the giants in K-12 who perform miracles every day.” Shelly declared, “All of this works because I have the best team in the country. Hey, we offer the best meal deal anywhere. For a $1.75, you get an entrée, four sides and a milk!”
“My hope is that K-12 will be
acknowledged and embraced not just as a cafeteria-style industrial feeding operation but as the quality restaurants we are.” Shannon Solomon
Other school districts are not our competitors, we work as a team.”
She takes advantage of the Good Food Purchasing Program, a national-local program, that emphasizes purchasing food from local farmers and using minority- and women- owned businesses for goods and services. “I get my operating money from the government, and I like to pump that money back into the
Lisa has more than 30 years’ experience in marketing, public relations, and advertising. A graduate from Miami University (Ohio) with a BA degree in English/Journalism she entered the publishing industry as a Regional Marketing Manager for The Wall Street Journal in Dallas. That led as position as Advertising/ Marketing Director at American Airlines Publishing where she eventually moved into advertising sales management working in Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York. In 2003, Lisa opened her own marketing and advertising sales firm—LMT Media Partners. Her company provides marketing/PR consulting, copywriting services, and advertising sales. She has published articles in magazines and business journals and for the past 9 years, she has worked with the School Nutrition and Foodservice industries. LMT Media Partners & Served Contributor Lisa Turner
LEARNING FROM OTHERS: INNOVATION, INSIGHT, AND IDEAS FROM INDUSTRY LEADERS
USFA trains the trainers at the CIA in San Antonio, TX
https://youtu.be/FowXBH8hlkU
In May of this year the NxtGen Network production team was invited to join the Urban School Food Alliance (USFA) on the campus of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in San Antonio, TX. Members of the USFA school districts came together for intensive classroom and kitchen training to learn from experts in the culinary field. The event was planned and executed by the USFA Executive Director, Dr. Katie Wilson, SNS, and her team. Over the course of five days attendees received training from CIA instructors, along with Chef Samantha Gasbarro, SNS from Healthy School Recipes and Culinary Trainer Cathy Powers, MS, RDN, LD from Culinary Nutrition Associates. Dr.Wilson shared,“Serving high-quality,good food is the goal of every school nutrition professional across the country,” and went on to share that “the theme and emphasis for this week is to participate in a training program that shows not only culinary training skills, but also how to use those skills when increasing plant-based menu items.”
Creating a training that was tailored specifically to K12 culinary needs was crucial to the USFA. In the above video, an attendee, Anthony Gomez III, a Foodservice Training Specialist from LA Unified School District spoke about why he felt this training was important for his role in the district. “Being here (at the training) we are just really hoping to get these basic skills, that a lot of people you would think would have in the kitchen but don’t actually, you know, have it and don’t have the confidence - so to carry this back to our school districts and empower everybody on our staff to create that buy-in to get back to the quality of food we want to go and serve our students.” Seeing the passion, excitement, and commitment to the training that each of the attendees and leaders shared during our two days at the CIA was more then enough to convince the NxtGen Network team that this was news worthy - and we may have even learned a few skills ourselves! Visit UrbanSchoolFoodAlliance.com for more info.
Ashwaubenon School District Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin Operator Award Finalists:
NxtGen Network is excited to share with you the top nominees for our Inaugural Innovation Awards for both a K12 operator and an industry member for their strides in innovation over the last year. We are inviting you to join us in selecting the winners to be announced at Ignite on July 9, 2023. The winner of the Operator Innovation Award will also receive 5,000 Cool School Points. Make sure to vote for your favorite nomination by June 28th, 2023. Only one vote for each award per email address will be counted.
Lee’s Summit R7 Lee’s Summit, Missouri Leon County Schools Tallahassee, Florida
McHenry SD 15 McHenry, Illinois
Provo City School District Provo, Utah Seattle Public Schools Seattle, Washington St. Vrain Valley Schools Longmont, Colorado
Industry Award Finalists:
Deeply Rooted Plant-based crumbles
Fork Farms Indoor hydroponic gardens
Kraft Heinz/Lunchables Lunchables meeting NSLP Req.
Ready to Vote? Click Here!
MenuLogic K12 Software by K12 for K12
Operator Award Finalists Here are their stories:
Ready to Vote? Click Here!
Ashwaubenon School District Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin
Lee’s Summit R7 Lee’s Summit, Missouri
How they got here: Advantageous goals to have the largest indoor K12 hydroponic garden What we love: Student involvement and sustainability In their words: Ashwaubenon Food Service Department recently purchased 24 Fork Farm units and remodeled a space in their high school to hold the largest indoor, K12, hydroponic garden. The district has 34 units total, and grows lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, tomatoes, and a variety of herbs. Not only is Ashwaubenon growing their own produce, but the 24 unit farm is managed by the high school Life Skills/Special Needs classroom. A science class at the high school is also experimenting with pH levels, nutrients, and planting spaces to try maximizing the year. The Fork Farm Curriculum will be included into all schools in the coming years, and field trips will be taken from each school to the High School Farm. The goal of the units is to grow enough lettuce in house and never have to order it again during the school year, grow enough produce to feature some in our SFSP meals, and eventually, to have the Life Skills class sell their produce at the farmers market each summer.
How they got here: Utilizing and showcasing local farmers What we love: Building relationships between students & farmers In their words: We have been growing our Farm to Table Program for the last few years. We finally have all 25 of our buildings ordering local (within 150 miles) farm fresh produce for their garden bars daily. The flavors of the fruits and veggies are better - these fresh items are what food is supposed to taste like. Supporting local farmers not only helps our local economy, but we are also supporting those who care for the fields, manage the equipment, do the harvesting of the crops. Not to mention that they take into consideration how to maximize their yields with the least amount of environmental impact. We are giving our students the chance to choose healthier options and teaching them about the food along with introducing them to the farmers that are growing the food they are eating. We work with our local food hub to have information and pictures of our farmers and their farms posted for our students. Now that students know where these items come from, they are more concerned about wasting food and our food waste has decreased.
Operator Award Finalists Here are their stories:
Ready to Vote? Click Here!
Leon County Schools Tallahassee, Florida
McHenry SD 15 McHenry, Illinois
How they got here: Involving the superintendent as a “celebrity” and inviting non-lunch eating students to the taste test What we love: Attention to detail and allowing the students to give honest feedback about the menu items In their words: We all do taste test with students, but this year Leon County took it to the next level. We launched the Superintendent’s lunch tour. For 10 weeks the Superintendent would travel to a middle school and have an intimate lunch with 8 select students along with a few teachers and/or staff members. We made sure to have students that usually did not eat with use so that we could hopefully win them over. The table would be decorated, balloons and a sign would welcome the guest, and the food was presented on elevated dishes. Dishes were presented by our district Chef who had a server helping pass out the meals so that she could explain each dish to guest in detail. While tasting the new recipes, the superintendent would discuss each dish with the guest and talk to them about other items they might want to see on the menu for next year. Overall, it was a very successful taste test tour!
How they got here: Giving students a positive foodservice experience through reward-based involvement What we love: Meal participation increases and student excitement about the program In their words: We believe that getting the students involved with the food service program is the best way to enhance participation. We recently started up our guest chef experience with the students. The students purchase a certificate from their school store with the dollars they earnfor good behavior from the teachers. The experience costs the students 100-150 dollars depending on the school and how often they give them out (this is a lot). The student spends their lunch period serving meals to their classmates, getting a tour of the kitchen, working the dish machine, and helping restock shelves. This has been very popular with the students, teachers, school officials as well as the kitchen staff. When the students are finished, the cafeteria staff signs their chef hat and they get to keep the hat, apron, and certificate to take home and have as a reminder of the experience. On the days the guest chef experience is happening not only is the student participating in the experience excited, but all of the other students are in envy of their classmate that is working behind the counter. This experience is so popular that I have had to limit the number of certificates available at the schools and meal participation continues to grow.
Operator Award Finalists Here are their stories:
Ready to Vote? Click Here!
Provo City School District Provo, Utah
Seattle Public Schools Seattle, Washington
How they got here: Using a simple & inexpensive tool used to intice children to eat fruits and vegetables What we love: Putting creativity into the staff’s hands - empowering them to take ownership in the program In their words: We utilize what is available to us as an operator using a very large portion of our commodity dollars in the USDA Dod Flavors program for fresh fruits and vegetables. We work with local growers when we can bringing in items that at times are grown within 10 miles of our schools. Each of our schools have been given a tool box full of simple cookie cutters and carving tools to help in creating simple and or elaborate additions to their lines. We have managers that create beautiful fruit carvings and simple fruit and vegetable art to entice the students to try a new fruit or vegetable, or simply to create an eye catching “finger salad”, or strawberry tart. Anyone can slice watermelon in to wedges but when watermelon is available we put watermelon pizza on our menus, in fact we have a day during Summer Meals in June dedicated to showing our Summer meals kiddos that we think they are “One in a Melon” where we will be making our pizzas once again. We know that our students eat with their eyes first!
How they got here: Purchasing and menuing local beef, dairy, and seafood products What we love: Addition of cultural dishes to the menu to expand a student’s palettes In their words: Seattle public schools is running a robust farm to school program for a large district. Purchasing not just local produce but also local beef, dairy and seafood creating amazing dishes like carne asada bowl, adobe mushroom congee and crab and shrimp roll. Seattle public schools culinary services prides itself on introducing students furthest away from educational justice have an opportunity to experience cultural dishes and ingredients that might not be available in their communities.
(1) More Operator Story Industry Stories
Operator Award Finalists Here are their stories:
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Honorable Mention
St. Vrain Valley Schools Longmont, Colorado
Career Academy (South Bend, IN) Dorchester County Public Schools Houston ISD Indian Creek School District Litchfield School District Mooresville Graded School District Murtaugh School District Panorama C.S.D. Parma City Schools Pitt County Schools Rialto USD Tolleson Elementary School District Trimble County Schools Troup County Schools Virginia Beach City Public Schools Additional Submissions
How they got here: Innovative use of partnerships with multiple educational programs What we love: Student-raised pigs and lambs on the menu - adding over 800 pounds of food locally raised In their words: Our team is creating a committed connected inter building / department action team in Education, Agriscience, AgTech, Food Innovation, Bioscience, STEM, Business & Entrepreneurial opportunities for students by offering potential new educational and career pathways. The foodservice departments partnerships with these programs create a variety of opportunities for innovation: • FarmBox hydroponic storage container farm and student-led leafy greens foodservice business • Student-raised pigs and lambs that are processed by a local USDA processor to be served as scratch forward Pork Nachos, Student-Raised Greek Walking Nachos • Hyper-local salad bars featuring produce from local farming partners and scratch-forward vegetarian/vegan choices • Prostart Culinary Program where students work in their high school cafeteria learning school foodservice skills. Students earn certification hours and are also paid as a student worker • SVVSD Innovation Center is using drone monitoring and VR technology to monitor agriculture and also the creation of a Meta World spaces for virtual farmers markets and field trips • Reduction of food waste through partnership with Eco-Cycle in Boulder, CO - creating Green Schools through recycling and composting in the cafeterias. In the near future food will be collected and used as supplemental feeding for farm animals In conclusion, students are becoming more aware and excited about our school meal program and food system because of these axillary education innovations. We have more exciting opportunities on the horizon including dynamic partnerships!
• Angelo Milan • Auburn-Washbun usd437 • Bayes Achievement Center • Benilde - St. Margaret’s • Canon City RE-1 • Capac Community Schools • Castleberry ISD • Catholic Diocese of Lexington • Clio Area Schools • Concordia Charter School • Crestwood SD • Cuyahoga Falls City School • Elizabeth City- Pasquotank PS • Franklin McKinley SD • Freeport Schools • Galena Park ISD • Georgetown ISD • Glenpool PS • Hampton Bays UFSD • Hanover D 28 • Kelly Price • Kern High SD • King George CS • Kirbyville R-VI SD • Lancaster County SD • Lawrenceburg Community SD • Lewisville ISD - Aramark/ Child Nutrition Office • Livingston Parish PS • Loraine ISD • Loup City Public Schools • LVUSD Child Nutrition • Magnolia ISD
• May ISD • McLean County
• Morongo Unified SD • North central Parke Community Schools • District 1 • Pittsburgh Public Schools • Plymouth SD • Poplar Bluff R-1 • Ranger Independent SD • Raymond SD • Rich Township HS District 227 • River Bend School District #2 • Roxana CUSD #1
• Saint Clair Area SD • Sandy Valley Local • Springville-Griffith Institute Central SD • Sugar Valley Rural Charter School • Three Village CSD • USD 207 Fort Leavenworth • USD 480
• Vanderbilt Area schools • Victor Valley Union High School District • Vista Del Lago High School • Webster PS • West Deptford • Willis ISD • Wood County Board of Education • Wyandotte PS
• YES Prep PS • York Schools
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