Six years ago, Springfield Public Schools in Springfield, Mass., began implementing breakfast in the classroom. The goal? To provide a morning meal for all students at each of the district’s 65 schools. As members of the nutrition team began to roll out the program, however, they struggled to create a diverse menu.
“We quickly found there was a lack of good, healthy products to support that program. We couldn't find [products] in the marketplace that met the meal pattern and that also were a healthy, hearty breakfast item,” says Food Service Director Tim Gray. “So we decided that we were going to start making those items ourselves.”
But as the district’s scratch-made program grew, so did the need for a building that could support it. Enter the culinary and nutrition center, which made its debut in April. The 67,000-square-foot building provides ample space to ideate, test and prepare from-scratch dishes for all mealparts. Read on to see how.