This post is in partnership with Revolution Foods.
Last August, I wrote about the healthy eating strategies I planned to execute for my family to kick off the new school year. Now that the year is winding down, I thought I’d share an update on one of my goals: encouraging my daughter to buy lunch at her SFUSD school. If she was willing to do this, then I could guiltlessly remove one food-related task from my daily to-do list, knowing she was being served a healthy, delicious, well-balanced meal, provided by Revolution Foods.
It turned out that my plan worked better than expected. I didn’t have to encourage her at all to buy school lunch. On her first day of kindergarten, she was so intrigued by the hot meals being offered that she chose to buy her lunch even though I had packed one for her. I would not have been brave enough to negotiate the school lunch line on the very first day of kindergarten, but she was determined to taste the food.
School lunch is a hit
I shouldn’t be surprised by how much my daughter has enjoyed her school lunches. Revolution Foods makes great tasting, healthy food that is kid-inspired and chef-crafted. The company engages with students at every step of the development process to ensure a menu they’ll love; in fact, the company’s regional partnership managers and their nonprofit partners survey over 2,000 students every month to gauge satisfaction level of their meals.
Kid-pleasing taste might be the most important factor in a meal for my daughter, but what makes me feel good about her school lunches is the fact that Revolution Foods prepares well-balanced meals that exceed federal nutrition guidelines. The company also partners with local, regional, and national vendors to source high-quality ingredients that meet their clean label standards. Their meals are prepared fresh daily with wholesome ingredients including fresh local produce, top USDA grade meats and poultry, rBST-free dairy products, and never include artificial flavors or colors.
I can say without a doubt that having my daughter buy her lunch at school has been a win-win situation. She’s eating a well-balanced lunch, I don’t have to pack it, and she’s expanded her flavor palate. At the start of the year, I would read her the lunch menu to make sure there was something listed that she’d want to eat. Now, we don’t even have to look. She’s excited to try new foods and has discovered a new favorite: the Korean BBQ Beef. Her newfound interest in food isn’t by accident. Revolution Foods’ chefs craft culturally and regionally relevant menus to deliver great-tasting meals that broaden students’ palates.
Revolution Foods’ efforts in San Francisco
Revolution Foods designs, produces, and delivers 2 million healthy, freshly prepared meals per week to schools and community sites nationwide, and even with such a broad scope of schools to cover, they are very locally focused.
Throughout this school year, Revolution Foods has made strides in three key areas to improve responsiveness to students’ needs and the overall student meal experience here in San Francisco.
1. More menu options and student satisfaction
Revolution Foods added more choices to lunch menus by introducing a third entrée, and menus now feature a student favorite item every single day (as rated by students themselves) in addition to special dietary needs options like low-dairy items.
My daughter’s new favorite lunch, the Korean BBQ Beef, was one of the new menu options. There’s also a new Pepperoni Pizza with turkey-beef pepperoni, Smothered Beef Burritos, and Pancake Bowls.
2. Recipe innovation
Revolution Foods’ chefs created and re-formulated over 100 recipes exclusively for SFUSD this school year in response to student feedback. Key innovations include:
- Introducing a blend of white and brown rice, and improving cooking methods to ensure soft, fluffy rice
- Increasing entrée portion sizes
- Introducing cage-free eggs as part of our contribution toward Good Food Purchasing goals
I am not kidding when I tell you that my daughter’s face lights up whenever she tells me what she had for lunch that day. And every time, she finishes her account by saying, “It was so good!”
3. Student engagement and student satisfaction focused menu design
Revolution Foods has hosted student engagement events at over 40 schools so far this year and has spoken with hundreds of students along with their principals, teachers, and cafeteria staff across many SFUSD schools this week to gather feedback on their meals.
They also spoke to 157 students and 21 administrators across 9 schools last Friday, and their feedback on the meals has been overwhelmingly positive. Revolution Foods will share the full results of their surveys in the coming days and will utilize the data to further improve their menu reformulation and innovation efforts in the coming months. I appreciate Revolution Foods’ commitment to not only provide our kids with healthy and nutritious meals during their school day but to continuously improve the way they do it, too.
I know my daughter will be excited to see what’s on next year’s lunch menu and so will I! It has been such a time saver to not have to pack her lunch every day and to feel good knowing she’s eating well-balanced meals at school.
Learn More
Visit Revolution Foods and follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to learn more about Revolution Foods’ commitment to continuous improvement and providing our SFUSD students with great tasting, healthy meals.
