The Mix

Mixing It Up: 10 Ways to Spice Up Your School Salad Bar

 

Salad bars in schools are about more than simply offering kids fresh fruits and vegetables daily; innovative salad bars take students on culinary adventures and prove that healthy eating can be an exciting journey of flavors and textures. While keeping it simple is a good start, salad bars offer a…

Fresh Beginnings: Salad Bars and Farm to School Practices in the Cleveland Metro School District

 

Fresh Beginnings: Salad Bars and Farm to School Practices in the Cleveland Metro School District

Location: Cleveland, Ohio

Schools: 87

Executive Director of Nutrition Services: Robert Gorman

Rebecca Rodriguez’s journey from a certified pastry chef to a passionate advocate for nutritious school meals is as diverse as the fruits and vegetables she champions. 

Rodriguez’s educational…

Salad Bar Training Resources

Salad Bar Training Resources

 

Salad Bars represent a significant service model shift for any district. To prepare the team, the director should provide training that includes how the salad bar impacts the menu plan, product ordering and preparation, setting up and breaking down the bar, and addressing meal service with a salad bar. For…

School Garden to Salad Bar: Hydroponics in the Cafeteria

School Garden to Salad Bar: Hydroponics in the Cafeteria

Thanks to Salad Bars to Schools, Taylor Elementary School in Foxborough, MA was granted a salad bar in 2013 (along with 3 other schools in the district), and in 2015, thanks to Whole Kids Foundation, the school received a $2,500 school garden grant. With the grant funds, former Food Service…

Keeping Salad Bars Fun and Fresh with Color and Creativity

Keeping Salad Bars Fun and Fresh with Color and Creativity

Creating bright and attractive school salad bars supports both staff engagement and student participation! Let’s head over to the Humboldt Unified School District (HUSD) in Prescott Valley, Arizona to chat with Lake Valley Elementary School Kitchen Manager Robyn Miller and District Director of Food and Nutrition Jody Buckle to learn…

Salad Bar Success in Lee’s Summit, Missouri

Salad Bar Success in Lee’s Summit, Missouri

We recently caught up with Lori Danella, Food Service Director (FSD) for Lee’s Summit School District in Missouri. Lori applied for the Salad Bars to Schools grant in 2019 and was one of the last recipients of salad bars before the program paused due to the COVID outbreak and school…

Salad Bars Brightening Up School Lunches in Michigan

Salad Bars Brightening Up School Lunches in Michigan

It might be cold and gray outside, but school lunches in Michigan are getting more colorful this winter! Thanks to donations from United Fresh Start Foundation (UFSF) and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBS MI), 23 salad bars were just recently granted to Michigan schools through Salad Bars to…

Keeping it Fresh with Chef Brandy Dreibelbis

Keeping it Fresh with Chef Brandy Dreibelbis

How to Get Creative Serving Fresh Produce During COVID

Due to the pandemic, school food programs have not been able to utilize their salad bars in their normal capacity and may be looking for other creative ways to serve fresh fruits and vegetables. We sat down to discuss this topic with…

Scratch Dressings for To-Go Salads

Scratch Dressings for To-Go Salads

Are you looking for ways to continue incorporating scratch cookings with the constantly evolving new feeding reality? We know that to-go salads have been a great option for many districts, so we have pulled together some resources from SB2S partner organization, Chef Ann Foundation. Through these resources, we hope to…

Versatility: Salad Bars and Covid

Versatility: Salad Bars and Covid

Many of you may be recipients of the Cambro Versa Bar through the Salad Bars to Schools program. We know your meal programs are having to adapt quickly with the times – and we want you to know that the equipment we granted, and the equipment you may already have…

Hero Highlight: Madelyn Ellis

Hero Highlight: Madelyn Ellis

In Payson, Arizona, the community comes first. It’s Madelyn Ellis’s first year as a food service director in the town she was born and raised in. She’s passionate about the health of her community and has taken incredible steps towards scratch cooking in her short tenure. If there’s anything this…

Salad Bar operations during COVID-19

Salad Bar operations during COVID-19

Dear Salad Bars to Schools Grantees, 

Thank you for all the hard work you do every day to bring healthy meals to children in your community, and especially this week as so many of you are going above and beyond.

With the current situation, we know many of you are working through…

Frequently Asked Questions: Grant Application Process 

Frequently Asked Questions: Grant Application Process 

By Messa

Our Salad Bars to Schools program administrator fields regular inquiries regarding the grant application process. This blog will address some of the most common questions so you can submit a successful application and have a strong understanding of the program and what you will receive. If you have a…

Making Salad Bars Fit your Operations

Making Salad Bars Fit your Operations

A look at placing salad bars in alternate locations along the serving line

By: Jeremy West, SNS

The Salad Bars to Schools partnership truly believes that salad bars are the best option for offering a variety of fresh produce for students at school. They are visually appealing and make it easy for…

Program Success for Wyoming School District

Program Success for Wyoming School District

Salad bar program offers fresh fruit & veggies for students, teachers, and parents alike
By Georgina Rupp  

“You cannot teach a hungry child.”

These were the words that Salad Bars To Schools grantee Dawndrea Daly offered when asked why school food is important. Without hesitation or pause to choose her words, the answer was clear, and…

Is Your District Considering a Salad Bar?

Is Your District Considering a Salad Bar?

A salad bar incorporated into a school meal program can be one of the best ways to increase healthy eating habits and fresh fruit and vegetable consumption. It can also allow for increased learning potential for both students and food service staff. If your school is interested in procuring a…

Creative Marketing Sparks Salad Bar Popularity

Creative Marketing Sparks Salad Bar Popularity

By Heidi Stimac

Kristen Mcguan’s creative spirit shines through the East Grand School District salad bar program where she has been Food Service Director for the past 3 years. Her favorite part about the program is when she sees students take ideas from the bars home. When kale chips and jicama…

Salad Bars: A Review

Salad Bars: A Review

With over 5,000 salad bars granted to schools across the U.S., the Salad Bars to Schools program has been able to help schools incorporate more fresh fruits and veggies into their meal programs. But to better understand the impacts and use of these salad bars we grant, we send every…

Out With The Old Salad Bar, In With The New!

Out With The Old Salad Bar, In With The New!

Marblehead Community Charter Public School revamps their salad bar participation with new equipment from SB2S.

By: Heidi Stimac

Marblehead Community Charter Public School (MCCPS) has been serving children in the Boston area for about 24 years, and has always had a salad bar. So what makes their participation in the Salad Bars…

Local Produce: Fueling Kids

Local Produce: Fueling Kids

Vista Unified School District is Bridging the Gap Between Students and Their Food Sources 

By: Heidi Stimac

Roasted chickpeas and fresh pomegranates are items you probably don’t expect to see in an ordinary school cafeteria. But luckily for the students at Vista Unified School District (VUSD) in Oceanside, California, Director of Child…

Cycling for Salad Bars

Cycling for Salad Bars

How Produce Industry Leaders are Combining their Passion for Bikes and Broccoli to Bring Salad Bars to Schools in California, Colorado, Texas and Virginia
By Kate Olender

People from all walks of life value school salad bars, which allow students to choose a variety of healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables to fill…

Spreading Fresh Fruits and Veggies District-Wide

Spreading Fresh Fruits and Veggies District-Wide

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…

Giving Children the Opportunity to Choose

Giving Children the Opportunity to Choose

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…

From the Farm Sprouts a Salad Bar

From the Farm Sprouts a Salad Bar

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…

Ingredients for Salad Bar Success

Ingredients for Salad Bar Success

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…

Picketing for Produce

Picketing for Produce

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…

Why Should Schools Have Salad Bars?

Why Should Schools Have Salad Bars?

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…

Making Fresh Foods the New Norm

Making Fresh Foods the New Norm

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…

A Salad Bar’s Larger Impact

A Salad Bar’s Larger Impact

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…

Expanding Farm to School through Salad Bars

Expanding Farm to School through Salad Bars

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…

The Facts About Salad Bars

The Facts About Salad Bars

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…

Lunchtime in Laredo

Lunchtime in Laredo

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…

Get A Salad Bar in Your School Faster!

Get A Salad Bar in Your School Faster!

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…

Making Farm to School Work for your Salad Bars

Making Farm to School Work for your Salad Bars

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…

Salad Bars and Farm to School: A Healthy Match

Salad Bars and Farm to School: A Healthy Match

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…

Small Districts Can Find Big Success with Salad Bars

Small Districts Can Find Big Success with Salad Bars

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…

Mt. Diablo’s Thirty-Two Salad Bars and Counting

Mt. Diablo’s Thirty-Two Salad Bars and Counting

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…

Developing Fresh Relationships with Local Producers

Developing Fresh Relationships with Local Producers

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…

New Jersey Serves Up Education and Creativity

New Jersey Serves Up Education and Creativity

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…

Laying it on the Line

Laying it on the Line

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…

Location, Location, Location

Location, Location, Location

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…

Bristol, Vermont’s Abundant Salad Bar Program

Bristol, Vermont’s Abundant Salad Bar Program

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,…

Salad Bar Leads to Bright Futures at Cardinal Ritter

Salad Bar Leads to Bright Futures at Cardinal Ritter

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…

Kittery School District – The Year of the Salad Bar

Kittery School District – The Year of the Salad Bar

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…

Paving the Way for School District Champions

Paving the Way for School District Champions

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…

United Community Schools Tracks the Miles on Their Salad Bar

United Community Schools Tracks the Miles on Their Salad Bar

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…

Preparation Makes Perfect at Minneapolis Public School District

Preparation Makes Perfect at Minneapolis Public School District

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…

Mount Horeb Area School District Serves Up Local

Mount Horeb Area School District Serves Up Local

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…

Experience our New Site

Experience our New Site

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…