Dig In

Serving more than 100 schools and about 76,000 meals a day, it's “quite a lift” balancing the needs of all students at Fulton County Schools in Georgia, says Executive Director of School Nutrition Alyssia Wright. Hear how Wright maintains strong standards for the food served and communicates her expectations to foodservice workers and others in the district, where she herself attended as a young student.

Local sourcing is a key component of the menu strategy at Salmon at Medway, a senior-living operation that opened its doors during the pandemic and was recently named FSD's Foodservice Operation of the Month. “It's very interesting ‘cause this group of residents that are living at Medway, they're asking a lot," says Jason Wallin, director of culinary operations. "They're asking where [the food] came from, they're asking to meet the farmer, which is pretty cool.” The focus on local really engages residents and makes “the wonderful meals we're putting out even that more meaningful,” he says. Listen as Wallin shares about how his operation has been attracting staff, weathering supply chain challenges and leveraging area connections.

“It was pretty crazy, to be honest,” Foodservice Director Sam Landman says of his operation's efforts to start building a centralized kitchen shortly before COVID hit. However, Meals on Wheels of Northeastern Illinois managed to keep its construction largely on track, opening the space that June. The new kitchen was part of a larger plan for the nonprofit chapter to bring meal production in house and reinvent offerings for food recipients, giving clients healthier versions of the cheeseburgers and fried chicken they wanted and adding trendy cuisines and global flavors to the mix. Listen as Landman describes what the journey has been like so far and how his team of staff and volunteers is weathering current challenges around labor and the supply chain.

At the University of Georgia in Athens, the meal plan is entirely voluntary for students, something that sets it apart from most schools of its size. This setup “instills a level of trust from the parents and the new students with dining services,” says Executive Director of Dining Services Bryan Varin. “We feel that way because we feel like we have to earn every opportunity that we can get, every sale of a meal plan, every dollar of revenue that comes in.”

At Centra Health in Lynchburg, Va., it's not just doctors and nurses who are referred to as caregivers—foodservice staff get that title, too. And while the healthcare operation has felt the squeeze of the industry's ongoing staffing issues, Centra's leaders feel that its reputation for caring helps attract job applicants and encourages them to stay. On this edition of “Dig In,” Corporate Director of Nutrition Services Tim Schoonmaker speaks with reporter Julianne Pepitone to shed some light on how things work at Centra.

After Director of Culinary Services Aaron Smith came to Seattle Public Schools, he and his team took on the ambitious project of creating a distinct menu for five sections of the district, each of which would reflect that region's unique cultural attributes. Though plans to roll out those menus took a hit during the pandemic, the dining team has still found plenty of ways to celebrate diversity through food. On this episode of “Dig In,” Smith chats with reporter Julianne Pepitone and shares what his journey's been like so far.

At the University of Richmond in Virginia, a new Well-Being Center has been helping the school approach student health in a holistic sense. And the dining team has been an integral part of that, setting up shop in the center's demo kitchen, where the culinary dietician teaches classes on topics such as basic cooking skills, how to grocery shop and how to prepare meals with five ingredients or less.

On this episode of "Dig In," Todd Hollander of John Knox Village shares how a culture centered on teamwork has helped his operation weather the COVID storm. Watching the foodservice operation at John Knox Village go from four concepts to nine during his tenure there, Director of Dining and Event Services Todd Hollander has sought to foster a culture of collaboration and cross-utilization across the community's eateries, in both formal and informal ways.

Child Nutrition Director Alicia Tracy and her team at Whitesboro Independent School District go to great lengths to make the cafeteria an exciting place for their young customers, knowing that if they get students amped up about menu offerings, they'll see a payoff in participation. “We try to get everybody involved and just make it fun,” Tracy says. A decorated serving line, themed meals and tower gardens are a few of the ways her staff works to get students' attention and make meal time “fun time.” On this episode of “Dig In,” Tracy shares more about her team's philosophy and how it's put into practice.

On this episode of “Dig In,” Dining Services Director Dean Masuccio shares how his staff has fostered cross-campus relationships and closed training gaps.

Across the whole Geisinger Health system, foodservice has been getting “lighter and leaner” as the team's worked to streamline its inventory and standardize offerings, Senior Director of Foodservice Steve Cerullo says. Changes like these are largely the result of a mindset shift that's been underway at the Pennsylvania operation in recent months. “One of the directions I've given to my team is that the pandemic actually gave us an opening to look forward and to create new things that we should be doing, things that kind of work out better for us instead of the historical question of, ‘Oh, when do we get back to normal?'” Cerullo says. On this episode of “Dig In,” Cerullo shares how he asked team members to “completely flip the script” and reimagine what's possible.

At Fallbrook Union High School District in Fallbrook, Calif., a switch to bulk meal service helped the dining team up menu variety, keep labor in check and significantly boost meal participation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “It was a huge win-win,” says Director of Food Services Judi Reynolds, noting that participation "has almost doubled" since the team began serving items in bulk. In addition, “doing a whole pineapple, a whole cantaloupe, a honeydew melon, it was very cost effective because we didn't have to do anything with it other than order it, serve it and pay for it,” she says. On this episode of “Dig In,” Reynolds shares how her team adapted during the last year and hopes to bring some lessons learned into the future.

Faced with the prospect of staff layoffs, the foodservice team at Shasta College in Redding, Calif., changed course and began offering grocery boxes, meal kits and more to stay afloat during the COVID-19 crisis. And Denise Axtell, director of food services at the rural community college, oversaw this shift. On this episode of “Dig In,” Axtell explains how her team remained student centered while finding new ways to bring revenue into the program.

On this episode of "Dig In," FSD Editor-in-Chief Kelsey Nash narrates "Making farm-to-school accessible for all," an article written by Gingerella and published on Jan. 12.

When the coronavirus really took hold in the U.S. last March, Legacy Retirement Communities in Lincoln, Neb., went from serving a handful of room service meals each day to 2,100—making the switch in a span of just six hours. After Legacy Retirement Communities shut down its dining rooms amid COVID-19, Robert Darrah and his team wanted to bring back some flavor of pre-pandemic dining. Here's how they did it.

Like districts nationwide, Lee's Summit R-7 School District in Lee's Summit, Mo., could not have foreseen the rollercoaster ride that 2020 would have in store. Nutrition Director Lori Danella shares how her team persevered through a year unlike any that came before it and found the willpower and resources to continue service, providing a record 225,000 meals in October.

IU Dining Executive Director Rahul Shrivastav shares how Indiana University is adapting amid the coronavirus pandemic.

FSD editors discuss how school closures are impacting the state of school meals.

Hear about the trends impacting this growing segment, including snacking, bar food and changing dietary preferences.