SNA Chapter 16 meeting
October 10, 2013
“
Kymm Mutch, MS, RD
Regional Learning Lab Project Director
A Program of Public Health Solutions
School Food FOCUS
… is a national collaborative that leverages the
knowledge and procurement power of large school
districts to make school meals nationwide more healthful,
regionally sourced, and sustainably produced.
FOCUS Approach and Values
It’s all about relationships

Participatory and stakeholder-driven

Comfort with, or at least tolerance for, not
knowing

Co-learning and knowledge co-creation

Transformational leadership

Systems change
Regional Learning Lab (RLL)

2012: first multi-district Learning Lab launched in the
Midwest

Builds on collaborative methods and lessons learned
in single-district Learning Labs

Redirects procurement of specific more healthful,
regional and/or sustainable foods

Funding:

WK Kellogg Foundation

Kreskge

Surdna

Lowenstein

Robert Wood Johnson
Regional Learning Lab School Districts
Regional Learning Lab
Participating School Districts and Partner Organizations
State
Illinois
School District
Chicago
District Partner

AraMark

Healthy Schools Campaign

Family Farmed.org
National Center for Appropriate Technology
Iowa
Des Moines
Michigan
Detroit
Minnesota
Minneapolis
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
Minnesota
Saint Paul
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
Nebraska
Omaha
Ohio
Cleveland


Detroit Eastern Market
Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems
Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition
Ohio State University Extension
Additional Partners
• Great Lakes Region Farm to School Network (Wisconsin)
• Asian Food Solutions, Inc. (Ohio)
• Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative
Combined Districts’ Food Priorities:
After much deliberation, the work groups are…
Work Group
Turkey
Beans/Grains
Fruit and
Vegetables
Chicken
Food items to start working on
Clean label turkey roast (whole or sliced):
1) Smoked
2) Roasted
Start with regionally grown and processed pinto beans in shelf
stable, not canned packaging; move towards a more
healthful burrito
RFI/RFP template including Geographic Preference and
cosmetically imperfect seconds for:
1) Fresh produce
2) Frozen produce
RLL decisions about chicken made within the National
Procurement Initiative
1) RWA/MSS drumsticks
2) RWA/MSS chicken strips (like fajita without seasoning)
Regional Learning Lab
Student Enrollment for School Year 2012-2013
Photo Source: www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/6241138870/
Total Enrollment: 690,533 Students
Regional Learning Lab
National School Lunch Program Daily Participation
800,000
700,000
600,000
500,000
400,000
300,000
Series1
200,000
100,000
0
total enrollment
ADA
lunches served
(90% attendance daily (69.2% ADP)
factor)
Total Lunches Served per Day: 430,193
Regional Learning Lab Districts
Total Combined Food Service Operating Budgets
213.3 Million spent for Food
194.6 Million spent for labor, administration and
other operating costs
Total Combined Operating Budgets: $407.9 M
Process Of
Procurement
Change
Supply Chain
Discovery
Procurement
change
Peer
Learning
Policy
Procurement Change in School Kitchens…
Access to wholesome food
Re-training/Cooking
Kitchen Equipment
A Simplified Food Supply Chain
Melanie Pullman, Food Supply Chain Management:
Economic, Social and Environmental Perspectives, 2012.
Regional Learning
Lab Supply Chain
Discovery
Producer
s
Processors
Distributors
School Districts
Supply
Chain
Discovery
• Explore options within commercial market and USDA Foods.
• Be creative: include growers, processors and products that
do not currently serve the K-12 market.
• Reach out to all processors large enough to serve one,
some, or all districts.
• Investigate potential for local supply.
• Identify gaps in infrastructure.
Initial foods for Fruits and Vegetables:
• Kale
• Roasted Root Veg
”
• Berries
• Frozen regionally grown produce
• Plus: Cosmetically-imperfect regional
“seconds”
Source:
edinburghselfcatering.wordpress.com
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Produce Baseline Data
Total Dollars
Item Category
Kale
July 2012 to Dec.
2012
SY 2011-2012
0
0
Roasted Root Vegetables
15,000
6,400
Berries
300,000
140,000
Dark Green Vegetables
1,190,000
790,000
Red/Orange Vegetables
740,000
600,000
12,300,000
8,400,000
Grand Total
Roasted Root Vegetable blend
• Combination of Carrots, Parsnips and
Sweet Potatoes
• Carrots grown by Growing Power
• Carrots grown on Sysco owned land
• Partnership that is greater
than the sum of the
players involved!
Source:
edinburghselfcatering.wordpress.com
Roasted Root Vegetable blend
• Funded by a WI DATCAP grant to
develop local crops
• Goal is to serve 100,000 servings in
the month of October to students
Educational materials are available - contact
Source:
edinburghselfcatering.wordpress.com
You can
order today
for service
in October
and
November
WIharvestmedley@gmail.
com
Initial foods for Fruits and Vegetables:
• Kale
• Roasted Root Veg
”
• Berries
• Frozen regionally grown produce
• Plus: Cosmetically-imperfect regional
“seconds”
Source:
edinburghselfcatering.wordpress.com
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Kale: the Possibilities
Growing Power is producing:
•
•
•
•
•
Local
Great Tasting
Highly Nutritious
Environmentally Considerate
In the Sysco Supply chain
The Power of the Public Plate
Photo by Cynthia Torres
Find us online:
www.schoolfoodfocus.org
Thank you.