Change on a Larger SCALE

We’re excited to announce our newest resource for K-12 school programs: the Scratch Cooking Assessment & Learning Evaluation (SCALE). After 12+ years of school food operational support, we’ve built a free-access digital platform that offers the first comprehensive self-assessment focused on improving nutrition, enhancing school meal programs, and increasing scratch cooking. This platform works with any size of district or level of cooking, and provides a specialized report with custom recommendations and step-by-step guides.

Scratch cooking uses real food with real ingredients, and has the potential to catalyze multiple benefits across the school food system. Many school districts want to improve their meal programs, but don’t have the bandwidth to assess their current operations or determine where to start.

For over 12 years, the Chef Ann Foundation (CAF) has supported districts in implementing scratch cooking operations in schools across the country. We have worked closely with districts with on-the-ground assessments, trainings, and operational resources. However, our determination to reach every school district in the country was limited by internal capacity and we needed a technology solution.

For the last two years, we have been building software that allows districts to assess their own programs and increase scratch cooking. What used to only be available to districts through an on-site assessment is now widely available for all districts through this innovative platform. SCALE is the very first platform that processes data to generate a customized recommendation report, to give districts a clear direction on how to improve their programs.

SCALE Explained

SCALE is available at no cost to school districts nationwide through The Lunch Box website. School food professionals can generate a customized assessment of their program, which includes linked resources, section scores, recommendations, and supporting research. Users take the assessment at their own pace and have immediate access to the generated report. As SCALE evolves, users will also receive recommendations of peer/mentor districts based on scores and proximity. SCALE is free to all school districts thanks to generous gifts from our donors including Whole Kids Foundation and Life Time Foundation.

If you or your school food service team wants to learn more about SCALE, visit The Lunch Box website or sign up for our 30-minute webinar on Wednesday June 8th at 9AM MT/11AM ET and 1PM MT/3PM ET HERE where our operations team will provide an overview of SCALE and answer questions on use.