During the COVID-19 pandemic, the nutrition team at Ogden School District in Ogden, Utah was struggling with product inventory. Like many other nutrition programs in the country, they were having to constantly alter their menus due to supply chain disruptions. The team quickly came to the realization that they needed additional space to store product.
“My department began discussing how beneficial it would be if we had our own warehouse where we could bring products in, store them and distribute them as needed as opposed to relying on the manufacturers,” says Ogden School District Maintenance Director Ken Crawford.
Crawford and the team proposed the idea to the district. It was well-received and was put into action using capital project funds.
Construction began on the facility last November and the district celebrated its grand opening earlier this month. Already, it has become a valuable resource for the team and the community at-large.
The training rooms and kitchen inside the facility can be combined into one room to host kitchen demonstrations.
Serving students
The Nutrition Center is split up into five different sections: nutrition office space, a warehouse, a student resource center, two training rooms and a test kitchen.
The warehouse is divided into two sides to hold both frozen and dry goods.
“[On the frozen side], we can store approximately 60 pallets of frozen goods,” says Crawford. “And then, we have our dry goods side where we can store about 60 pallets of dried goods as well.”
The warehouse also includes a loading dock with a dock leveler that allows the team to both receive and send out shipments.
Also included in the space is the Star Student Resource Center, which provides clothing, school supplies and more to low-income students.
Ogden has a free and reduced-price meal rate of 68% so the district has a high need for extra clothing, food and other resources, Crawford says. The resource center is also able to take advantage of the warehouse loading dock to send out and receive supplies.
“We're trying to utilize some of that common space to be able to meet many different needs,” says Crawford.
The training kitchen inside the Child Nutrition Center.
A place to train
The center is also home to two training rooms and a training kitchen, which can be reformatted based on the team's needs.
“We can actually open it up and have both training rooms and the kitchen all in one big room,” says Crawford.
The kitchen houses the same equipment found in the district’s kitchens, including combi ovens, a gas range and more.
Filling the training kitchen with the same equipment found throughout the district allows the nutrition team to train new hires on the exact equipment that they’ll be working with while on the job. It also enables the team to test out products and new recipes at the Nutrition Center instead of having to travel to a school kitchen.
“When we receive samples and products and stuff like that from vendors, we can cook them up in the same environment as what they'd be in at the school,” says Crawford.
Along with the state of the art kitchen equipment, the space is also outfitted with cameras, microphones and screens, allowing it to be utilized for state trainings, demos and more.
The nutrition team is currently in talks with the Ogden’s Special Education Department to invite special education students to utilize the space as well.
“Those students will be able to come over and learn culinary skills so that they can then go out and get jobs in our community in commercial grade kitchens,” says Crawford.
Response to the facility has been overwhelmingly positive so far, Crawford says and he is excited to see how they can continue to utilize the space in new ways going forward.
“It really is a way for us to enhance what we offer here in the district and continue to progress and move forward,” he says.