Students attending Snowflake School District are reaping the benefits of healthy school meals thanks to Southwest Foodservices (SFE), which operates the food services department for schools within SUSD. There are 15 workers in the district dedicated to providing healthy meals for children who are attending schools in the district. There are approximately 2,700 students within the district and about half at each school eat meals provided by the school.
Food Services Director, Alicia Cochran oversees the food and cafeterias at all six schools. Cochran has been in the field of school food service for seven years and says that SFE adheres to the National School Lunch Program guidelines and regulations but has the freedom to create semi-homemade meals.
For example, the pizzas that are served are not frozen but handmade with fresh ingredients. Bread dough is ordered but then workers proof and bake that dough into sub rolls or cinnamon rolls. Enchiladas are homemade. The kitchen staff at each school lovingly prepares food like they would for their own families but on a larger scale. Each school feeds at least 100 students daily.
Cochran works with the SUSD Business Manager Mark Ollerton to participate in programs where locally grown items such as lettuce, broccoli or cauliflower are available to the school.
The Snowflake High School and Snowflake Junior High School each have smoothies available daily made from fresh ingredients. All six schools have a salad bar filled with colorful fresh fruits and vegetables to encourage healthy eating habits.
Cochran does the menu planning and tries to offer a variety of healthy foods that are also appetizing to students. “The biggest challenge is meeting the guidelines and making food that children want to eat,” said Cochran.
The district food services webpage has an interactive menu page that has all the nutritional information for each menu item. Parents can also submit a rating for each menu item to help the school identify what meals students enjoy the most. There is a cell phone app that can be downloaded with all the same information.
Parents may not be aware that if their child has certain allergies or dietary needs the food services department will do their best to make accommodations. All food served at the schools is peanut-free because there are many students with peanut allergies. There are students within the district that have needed a gluten free diet or a diabetic friendly diet that Cochran and her staff have created special meal options for.
Cochran and Ollerton have also coordinated to help seek out grants that help the district purchase equipment such as ovens, walk in coolers and the salad bars located at each school.
Although Cochran technically works for SFE, the partnership with the district is focused on helping the district provide healthy meals, earn revenue from any catering events and grant monies benefit the district solely.
The school lunch program within SUSD focuses on homemade as often as possible, fresh ingredients, and healthy nutritious meals for the students. Some students rely on the meals provided at school as their only meals and the district takes that seriously. Students are also exposed to special treats or meals to expose them to exotic foods such as sushi. One visit to any of the school kitchens and it becomes clear that feeding the students is more than a job but a labor of love.
