WASHINGTON — It’s been nearly four years since First Lady Michelle Obama sent shockwaves through the education world with the announcement of new school lunch regulations. Called the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Act,” schools around the country had to respond to drastic changes to what could and couldn’t be served in school cafeterias.
The new meal requirements, according to a White Houserelease, were the “first time in more than fifteen years” that the government had raised standards for the meals consumed by some 33 million students on a daily basis. At implementation, the requirements included a cap of 850 calories for lunch meals, a call to increase the variety of vegetables available, and the mandatory use of whole grains.
Remember, for many kids, lunch is not the only meal they consume on school grounds. The school cafeteria is also their go-to destination for breakfast and even dinner, too.
Demand for healthy food that can be delivered at scale has led to the birth of a raft of rapidly growing school lunch businesses in America’s urban core. Two such companies, Oakland-based Revolution Foods and Detroit-based Edibles Rex, have been cooking up food for students ahead of the government’s regulations.
These small businesses appear well-positioned to meet the Obama administration’s guidelines in a healthy, kid-friendly way. Major industry players, meanwhile, are comparatively unwieldy. There are three powerhouse food companies that serve schools. They are Aramark,
Compass Group, and Sodex, according to an article published by theCornell Policy Review. “With a combined annual revenue of about $43 billion in 2009, the school lunch sector is highly concentrated and dominated by these three giant multinational companies,” writes Robyn Ziperstein.
Tammy Tedesco is the CEO of Edibles Rex which is No. 95 on this year’s Inner City 100 list, a ranking of the fastest growing inner city businesses in