Cooking Up Fresh Meals by the Thousands at Fresno Unified School District
October 17, 2024
The School Food Professionals at Fresno Unified School District cook fresh, tasty and healthy food — from scratch — for tens of thousands of students every school day at the district’s production center. On a typical day, they make more than 45,000 meals for the students in California’s third-largest public school district. ”It takes a lot of work to make it happen,” says Monica Garcia Hutchison, the Production Center District Supervisor for Fresno Unified Nutrition Services. “And the students and parents in our district agree that it’s worth it.”
Amazing Meals Begin with Amazing Ingredients
The first step to cooking a delicious school meal is to use delicious ingredients. Fresno Unified’s students love fresh fruit and vegetables, and they’re lucky to be located in California’s Central Valley, home to some of the world’s best produce. More than a quarter of the nation’s food is grown in the region, so Fresno schools have access to a diverse array of fresh-from-the-ground produce right in their own backyard.
By buying from local farmers and produce vendors, Fresno Unified School District is able to get the highest-quality, best-tasting ingredients for students while supporting local families and communities.
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To create their menus, Fresno Unified taps into the expertise of an incredible team that includes nutritionists, site managers and operators, chefs, and, most importantly, the students themselves. The district taste-tests new recipes frequently, both with students who come to visit the production center on field trips and by going out to school sites around the district. Once they’ve got a recipe that kids love, they then work out how to make it at scale.
Making that happen are the more than 100 employees in Fresno Unified’s production center, who use fresh ingredients to make about 36,000 lunches and 10,000 breakfasts every day. Their bakery team makes fresh whole grain rich rolls, cookies and other items, which they pack and ship to schools daily, so they’re served at the optimal quality. In their Cook/Chill department, they cook the components that go into main entrees, such as chili beans or marinara sauce, before packaging them fresh and sending them off to students.
Keeping the Process Moving
Making this much food from scratch, while ensuring that it’s fresh, healthy and delicious, takes serious organization. That means making sure they have enough staff and all the ingredients needed for each meal. It means making sure everything they serve is fresh and meets the high standards they set for student food. It means making sure that the special diet team has their equipment all set to cook and prepare meals for students with allergies or dietary restrictions, and that all their machines and tools are working in tip-top shape. And it means focusing on quality control throughout the process to make sure that the team is making the best and most nutritious meals they can.
The “Why” Behind the Work
What brings this whole complex system together and keeps it moving smoothly is a shared sense of values. Everyone who works there has the same goal in mind: making sure Fresno students get the healthy and tasty food that they need, because they know the important role that nutritious meals play in helping Fresno students to grow, succeed and thrive.
“Every single person here — from the nutritionists and chefs who plan the meals to the bakers and cooks who make them and the machinists who keep our equipment humming — puts their heart into what they do,” Monica says. “Because at the end of the day, we all want the students to get a great meal.”