A deep dive into one school nutrition department’s decision to launch a district-wide catering program. Why and how you might consider following their lead.

Guests said the cookies and brownies at the reception were good. Really good. In fact, the person in charge of the function exclaimed, “Those brownies and cookies were so delicious, I think people were even fighting over the crumbs!”

This positive praise, and more comments like it, are ample proof that starting a new centrally managed, district-wide catering program at Lee’s Summit R7 (Mo.) School District was a smart move by Director of Nutrition Services Lori Danella, MS, SNS. She and her Nutrition Services catering crew have enjoyed tremendous success—even when the startup timing turned out to be the worst. It was 2019. We all know what happened next...