The mission of a Director of Nutrition Services to bring salad bars to students of all ages.
By Faith Akgun
When Kayla Leu joined Iowa’s Bettendorf Community School District as Director of Nutrition Services, there were already existing salad bars* in the district’s middle and high schools. She quickly set out to…
How one school district has empowered children to make healthy choices through salad bars
By Faith Akgun
When Peggy Bodnar became the Food & Nutrition Services Supervisor at Boise School District in 2007, she was inheriting a progressive school lunch program that was already profoundly committed to improving the health and wellness…
How a farm in Maine brought their dedication to healthy school food
By Faith Akgun
Madison Public Schools in Madison, ME teamed up with their local tomato farmer to bring the Farm to School movement to the district, giving students access to fresh and healthy options every day. In 2015, nearby Backyard…
How one Georgia school district brought salad bars to all their schools.
By: Laura Peuquet
School Nutrition Director Wimberly Brackett knew that if she could place salad bars in all Dalton Public Schools, both kids and staff would eat more whole, fresh foods. She was also confident that she could lead her…
Elementary Students Protest for Salad Bar Access
By: Molly Brown
Green and orange signs filled the air in the Bates Academy cafeteria. The students of this K-8 school made their voices heard, but not in the typical way you’d imagine for young children. No, the third- through fifth-graders here engaged in a…
Over ten years ago, when I was the Director of Nutrition Services at Berkeley Unified School District, I implemented Salad Bars in every school in the district for all of our K-12 students. When I began the program, there was a fair amount of “push-back.” I heard statements like; “little…
For three elementary schools in Washington, fresh produce from the salad bar has become the new norm.
When it comes to making changes to school lunch options around the country, food service directors are often met with resistance from staff, parents, and students. However, Patrick Garmong from Ellensburg, WA didn’t let…
How a Salad Bar Helped Save One School
By: Emily Gallivan
School salad bars may live in the cafeteria, but the impact they have on the school reaches well beyond the lunchroom doors. Food service professionals working within the cafeteria as well as staff, administrators, and teachers outside of it can…
By: Emily Gallivan
Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools is excited to be celebrating National Farm to School Month this October, paying homage to the hard work and dedication of food service professionals, farmers and educators across the country who are connecting their communities with fresh, healthy and local food. And what…
By: Emily Gallivan
After 20 years of working as a Food Service Director Carrie Beegle knows her way around a school kitchen. She has dedicated her career to working in schools throughout Ohio and has spent the past seven years heading up the food program for Cloverleaf Local Schools, a small…
How to win over naysayers and show them it can be done
By: Beth Collins
These days, it’s a lot harder to argue against using a salad bar in a school program than it once was. The USDA has backed salad bars as one of the most efficient ways schools can meet…
Making Salad Bars Work Against All Odds
By Carly Olson
“The weather is changing a little bit down here… getting a bunch of rain but we’re still keeping our kids healthy, especially with our salad bars!” Robert Cuellar’s voice is cheerful and enthusiastic as he begins to describe his school’s vibrant salad…
Fundraising on your own behalf
by: Emily Miller
At Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools (LMSB2S), we are dedicated to donating salad bars to U.S. schools so that every child has daily access to fresh fruits and vegetables. We encourage school districts nationwide to apply for one (or more!) of our salad…
In Celebration of National Farm to School Month
By Emily Miller
Picture your child walking into the school lunchroom on their first day back to school. The doors swing open and what do they see? A salad bar brimming with fresh from the farm fruits and vegetables. Juicy grape tomatoes, red bell…
Your Guide to the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools Grant Application
By: Emily Miller
Sometimes applying for grants can be a complicated process—from making sure you meet the eligibility criteria to filling out the application. At Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools, our primary objective is to get the most salad…
An Interview with San Diego Unified School District
By: Emily Miller
Salad bars are the heart of the meal program at San Diego Unified School District, and with the bountiful farm-fresh harvest of Southern California right on their doorstep, it’s easy to understand why. Since 2006, San Diego USD has been introducing…
By: Emily Miller
Five years ago, Amelia Anderson and Marley Santos were Kindergarteners starting out at their new school, Foothill Elementary in Boulder, Colorado. Foothill was one of the first schools to receive a salad bar from Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools. Now in 5th grade, Amelia and Marley have…
By: Beth Collins
Spring is a time of renewal, and in school food service kitchens, I often find that teams are counting down the days before they split for the summer. Before you lose focus in the bright sunshine, carve out some specific time for yourself and your teams to reflect…
by: Emily Miller
The date is May 5, 2014. It’s lunchtime at Wethersfield CUSD #230 in Illinois and excitement is in the air. The two-school district has just received two brand new salad bars, one sized for k-6 students, the other for grades 7-12, and today is their big debut. Food service director…
By: Emily Miller
Mt. Diablo Unified School District in northern California has a devilishly good salad bar program thanks to the hard work and dedication of Food Service Director Anna Fisher. Fisher, who began her career as a clinical dietitian, transitioned to school food service 19 years ago and hasn’t looked…
Stocking Your Salad Bar
By: Beth Collins
The winter has been very persistent where I live up in the northwest corner of Michigan’s mitten, but right around this time I start dreaming of planting seeds and gardens. Our farmers, however, have been working their winter plans since their last harvest of the…
Instead of insisting that students take one fruit or vegetable each day at lunch, West New York School District (WNYSD) students willingly fill their lunch trays with healthy produce. Occasionally, Sal Valenza, the WNYSD nutrition services director, will point to a student’s tray and ask: “Are you sure you’re going…
Vegetable and Fruit Placement for your Salad Bar
By: Beth Collins
In our last blog we discussed salad bar location ‒ where it’s placed within the lunchroom. Before the hot line? Integrated into the service line? After the hot line? Before the POS? Every school site is different and presents different challenges…
An interview with Food Service Director Tom Vance
Lakeside School District in Hot Springs, Arkansas can boast about their salad bar success led by food service director Tom Vance. His career began as a culinary specialist in the navy, followed by a stint crafting food menus for county jails, then finally…
When a district is first considering reconfiguring their menu planning to include a salad bar (aka “harvest”, “veggie,” “fruit and veggie,” and “garden” bar) the concept alone is very attractive. Why? The salad bar assists in meeting the vegetable subgroup requirement, it offers that coveted “student choice” we always talk…
An interview with Linda Waters, Food Service Director at Gilmer County Schools, Georgia
Six years ago, food service director extraordinaire, Linda Waters, kicked off her mission to serve up fresh fruits and veggies to Gilmer County Schools in Elijay, Georgia. This was not new territory for Waters, since she’d spent the…
Revolutionizing your lunchrooms with salad bars is a complex process from the initial idea to the actual implementation. What many of us may not be fully prepared for is the students’ lull in salad bar participation after the initial excitement wears off. So, just how do we build and sustain…
From School Gardens to Slice-and-Dice Competitions: Addison Northeast Food Service Cooperative (ANFSC)
Number of kids enrolled at ANFSC: 1,600
Number of schools in district: 6
Percentage who are free and reduced: 40%
Number of local farms worked with in a given year: 10
Kids’ favorite local produce: Berries, apples, carrots, peppers
Walking away from the salad…
Salad bars add variety, choice, and color to lunch trays nationwide. It is the start of the school year, and if you haven’t already, now is the perfect time to start exploring the tips, tricks, and how to’s of The Lunch Box. With the launch of the new Lunch Box…
An interview with Misti Figueroa, Food Service Director
When Misti Figueroa made the career switch from restaurant chef to Food Service Director for Cardinal Ritter High School in Indiana, she discovered the lunch menu was, well, “simplistic” at best.
After years of being a professional chef, she felt there were not nearly as…
An interview with Nancy Weiss, Food Service Director
Shortly after finishing her degrees in English and Economics at UCSB, Nancy Weiss had a sudden realization—food was her true passion. So, in 1985, she threw open the doors of her very own restaurant: SOHO Restaurant and Music Club (an establishment still open…
Number of kids served at KSD: 1013
Percentage who qualify for free and reduced-priced meals: 35%
Annual number of local farms partners: 4 farms
Kids’ favorite local produce: beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, and leafy greens
A year has passed since Kittery School District in Maine received three brand new salad bars from Let’s Move Salad…
An interview with school food service expert Tim Cipriano
Chef Tim Cipriano started his career in the kitchen as a child, but who wouldn’t with a great grandmother nicknamed “Nana Noodles”? Tim spent many years working in restaurants before starting a family. It was at that pivotal point in his life that…
A New Study Shows Effects of Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools
More than 1.7 million school-age children in the United States have better access to fresh fruits and vegetables thanks to new salad bars donated to schools through Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools. Recently, the program partnership released results…
School nurse and food services director of Iowa’s United Community Schools, Lori Good, is a firm believer in salad bars in schools. Her approach to gaining acceptance from the students focuses on nutrition as well as many other aspects of health and wellness.
United Community Schools recently adopted a Mileage Club…
Watch this video to learn about how school salad bars nationwide are earning top marks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKZPYOSLL4U&feature=youtu.be
When Culinary and Nutrition Service Director Bertrand Weber joined Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) two and a half years ago, implementing a salad bar program was a top priority. The food service model within the district was 100% pre-packed, centrally prepared, and delivered in trays—vegetables included. (Picture soggy green beans and…
An Interview with Rodney Taylor, Food Services Director
Rodney Taylor knows a few things about feeding children healthy and delicious food. He and his staff serve over 35,000 students a day in the 47 schools that make up Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) in California. Of those students, 68% qualify for…
An Interview with Michelle Denk, Food Services Director
Schools are doing local food right all across the country. For Mount Horeb Area School District in Wisconsin, it’s not a new idea. Food Services Director Michelle Denk says they’ve had a Harvest of the Month program for ten years. Now armed with…
Hello and welcome to the new Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools (LMSB2S) website! First, you’ve already discovered our revamped blog, The Mix, where we will keep you updated on news, stories, and tips for salad bar success. Next, we recommend visiting our Get a Salad Bar section that has a…
