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Get Schools Cooking: Now Accepting Applications from Districts Nationwide

We are excited to share that the application for our Get Schools Cooking program is open now until September 30, 2022! Get Schools Cooking is an intensive 3-year assessment and strategic planning program that provides schools with the operational knowledge to transition from heat & serve to scratch cook operational model.

Navigating the New Normal

It has been almost three years since the last Get Schools Cooking (GSC) cohort was chosen. During that time, the world has had to grapple with unprecedented challenges. From an ongoing pandemic, to staff shortages and supply chain issues, the landscape of school food continues to change while school food professionals navigate the ‘new normal’. In turn, these challenges have shifted some districts towards being more reliant on packaged and heat-and-serve items as resources and labor are limited.


What is Get Schools Cooking?

Get Schools Cooking is an intensive 3-year program that provides operational knowledge and support to school food departments ready to transition from a heat-and-serve to a scratch cook operational model. After reviewing applications and conducting interviews with prospective districts, our team selects a handful of districts to participate in the program. Next, recognized school food experts from our team collect key data and perform onsite assessments for each school district participating in the program. Using the information gathered, individualized reports are created providing recommended actions for improvement in day-to-day activities. Along with creating the reports, we work with Food Service leadership to develop a strategic plan based on the recommendations from the assessment report, and provide further guidance on necessary actions the district will need to take in order to achieve their desired improvements.

In addition to extensive planning, we provide districts technical assistance, both on-site and one-on-one virtual support, in areas identified in the assessment report. Areas include, but are not limited to: culinary skills, kitchen efficiency, budget development, staffing plan, recipe development, and marketing. The program also includes systems assistance grants so that districts have funds to invest in the recommendations provided. The cohort model allows for peer-to-peer learning opportunities and support to discuss current school food topics, share information, and keep up to date with other districts’ successes. Over the last six years, GSC has supported 20 districts in school food change!

Our Team of Experts

Since the 2019 Get Schools Cooking cohort, our organization has hired four talented school food experts to lead the Get Schools Cooking program. Anneliese Tanner, CAF’s Senior Director of Research and Assessment, joined our team as a former Executive Director of Food Service at Austin Independent School District, where she led the district in transitioning to scratch cooking among other innovative initiatives. Chef Brandy Dreibelbis, CAF’s Senior Director of School Food Operations, joined CAF as a former Director of Food Services at Napa Valley School District and former Executive Chef at Boulder Valley School District. With Anneliese’s expertise in finance, labor, and change management, and Chef Brandy’s expertise in facilities, procurement, and culinary training, our team is well positioned to provide districts with robust assessments and recommendations. The Get Schools Cooking team is also supported by Senior Program Coordinator, Byron Batchelor, and Program Administrative Associate, Juni Elston, both of whom join the CAF team with 3+ years of school food experience, as well as CAF’s Marketing Manager, Dani Chandler.



Accelerating Systems Change

Continuing to build off of the programming Chef Ann Cooper and Beth Collins created, additions have been made to the program, not only to create efficiencies in leveraging data, but to also gain a deeper insight into how scratch cooking contributes to the food system at large.

One of the biggest additions to our offering of resources is the recently released SCALE platform. Districts will not only have the opportunity to take the SCALE assessment, but the platform will also be utilized onsite by our team to gather data. By streamlining district information, recommendations are able to be better targeted to the specific district. Through SCALE, we are also able to identify key areas to focus on technical assistance.

Another addition to GSC is our partnership with the Good Food Purchasing Program. The Good Food Purchasing Program will take a deeper dive into district procurement practices and sustainability, to research the correlation between scratch cooking and value based procurement. We will provide guidance to districts on how to use the Good Food Purchasing Program data to influence procurement, menus and scratch cooking. Districts will also have access to the Good Food Purchasing Program’s resources which include:

  • Trainings, tools and templates to support districts

  • A Good Food Purchasing Program baseline and or annual assessment, including in-depth analysis and reporting of the five Good Food Purchasing Program values

  • Technical assistance

  • Access to Purchase Browser

  • Good Food Operators Peer Learning Network

  • Provision of Good Food Provider seal, as applicable, by district upon achievement of star status (e.g. obtaining baseline status in each of the five Good Food Purchasing Program values)


Results that Matter

As school food programs continue to face extraordinary challenges, we look forward to helping the next cohort achieve results that will significantly impact the health of their students and improve the efficiencies of their operations. Previous participants report positive menu and ingredient changes, including one district that moved to ~60% scratch-cooked menu items. Districts continue to eliminate highly processed foods and introduce new recipes using whole fruits and vegetables. School kitchens are now equipped with salad bars, food processors, specialty ovens, and more.

We are grateful for the ongoing efforts of school food operators and support from our partners, including Whole Kids Foundation and the Rachael Ray Foundation that continue this work towards a healthier generation of kids.

Have Questions?

Register for our webinar on Wednesday, September 7th at 10am CT to learn more about the Get Schools Cooking program from Chef Ann Foundation’s own Senior Director of School Food Operations, Chef Brandy Dreibelbis, and Senior Director of Research & Assessment, Anneliese Tanner. Listeners will also have the opportunity to hear from a prior Get Schools Cooking participant about their experience going through the program, and what it was like to work with the Chef Ann Foundation.

Read more information and apply on the Get Schools Cooking page.

Have Questions?

Register for our webinar on Wednesday, September 7th at 10am CT to learn more about the Get Schools Cooking program from Chef Ann Foundation’s own Senior Director of School Food Operations, Chef Brandy Dreibelbis, and Senior Director of Research & Assessment, Anneliese Tanner. Listeners will also have the opportunity to hear from a prior Get Schools Cooking participant about their experience going through the program, and what it was like to work with the Chef Ann Foundation.

Read more information and apply on the Get Schools Cooking page.

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