Our Impact in 2025 & the Change We'll Scale in 2026
January 12, 2026 | By
CEO Mara Fleishman shares how a sabbatical gave her fresh perspective on what the Chef Ann Foundation accomplished in 2025, and what lies ahead in 2026.
Photo: Mara during her sabbatical with her daughter and niece
Expanding scratch cooking in every state
In 2025, the Chef Ann Foundation supported school food programs in every state in the U.S., meeting districts where they are through hands-on support, virtual assistance, online courses, resources, and added workforce capacity. Together, our work reached 1,476,484 students across 2,860 schools, supporting 3,394 school food professionals.
Our team of 21 school food operations specialists — who collectively hold more than 200 years of experience directly working in school food service — delivered nearly 2,000 hours of technical assistance, helping districts serve more scratch-made meals.
We also supported 700+ apprentices through California Healthy School Food Pathway, granted 166 salad bars, facilitated values-aligned purchasing collectives, and saw 30,000 resource downloads from The Lunch Box, our online scratch cooking research library for schools.
Expanding scratch cooking in every state
In 2025, the Chef Ann Foundation supported school food programs in every state in the U.S., meeting districts where they are through hands-on support, virtual assistance, online courses, resources, and added workforce capacity. Together, our work reached 1,476,484 students across 2,860 schools, supporting 3,394 school food professionals.
Our team of 21 school food operations specialists — who collectively hold more than 200 years of experience directly working in school food service — delivered nearly 2,000 hours of technical assistance, helping districts serve more scratch-made meals.
We also supported 700+ apprentices through California Healthy School Food Pathway, granted 166 salad bars, facilitated values-aligned purchasing collectives, and saw 30,000 resource downloads from The Lunch Box, our online scratch cooking research library for schools.
Improving school meal quality through research
In 2025, Chef Ann Foundation further established itself as a national leader in school food research. With partners at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Food Insight Group, we sub-granted $800,000 across four research projects seeking to better understand the current state of the K–12 school food workforce, and how developing this workforce could improve the quality of school meals.
We also unveiled an updated scratch-cooking continuum, which demonstrates how schools can gradually transition from serving ready-to-eat and heat-and-serve meals to speed-scratch and fully scratch-cooked meals. We’re validating our continuum through research with the University of Connecticut and Harvard University, funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
You can learn more about our research and evaluation work on our recently launched webpage!
Improving school meal quality through research
In 2025, Chef Ann Foundation further established itself as a national leader in school food research. With partners at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Food Insight Group, we sub-granted $800,000 across four research projects seeking to better understand the current state of the K–12 school food workforce, and how developing this workforce could improve the quality of school meals.
We also unveiled an updated scratch-cooking continuum, which demonstrates how schools can gradually transition from serving ready-to-eat and heat-and-serve meals to speed-scratch and fully scratch-cooked meals. We’re validating our continuum through research with the University of Connecticut and Harvard University, funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
You can learn more about our research and evaluation work on our recently launched webpage!
Creating a roadmap for policy change
We published our policy roadmap, The Scratch Cooking in Schools Solution. Our roadmap outlines our policy priorities for increasing scratch cooking in schools; expanding access to healthy school meals; and unlocking the academic, environmental, economic, and social benefits scratch cooking offers children and communities.
Marion Nestle featured our policy roadmap on her Food Politics blog, writing: “This report, while recognizing obstacles, explains why scratch cooking matters so much. Its food policy priorities are well worth attention, especially now when the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement is focusing on schools.”
Creating a roadmap for policy change
We published our policy roadmap, The Scratch Cooking in Schools Solution. Our roadmap outlines our policy priorities for increasing scratch cooking in schools; expanding access to healthy school meals; and unlocking the academic, environmental, economic, and social benefits scratch cooking offers children and communities.
Marion Nestle featured our policy roadmap on her Food Politics blog, writing: “This report, while recognizing obstacles, explains why scratch cooking matters so much. Its food policy priorities are well worth attention, especially now when the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement is focusing on schools.”
Shifting misperceptions about school food jobs
In partnership with the state of California, we completed the second year of the Powered by School Food Professionals campaign — one of the nation’s first research-backed rebranding campaigns for the field.
The campaign reached 24 million Californians, generated 98.3 million impressions, and increased parent perceptions of school food professionals as skilled and professional by 10 percentage points.
We published a white paper detailing our approach to the campaign and its insights.
Shifting misperceptions about school food jobs
In partnership with the state of California, we completed the second year of the Powered by School Food Professionals campaign — one of the nation’s first research-backed rebranding campaigns for the field.
The campaign reached 24 million Californians, generated 98.3 million impressions, and increased parent perceptions of school food professionals as skilled and professional by 10 percentage points.
We published a white paper detailing our approach to the campaign and its insights.
Building the school food workforce in more states
We will significantly scale Healthy School Food Pathway, the nation’s first registered apprenticeship for school food professionals. The program is currently active in California, Colorado, and Virginia. This year, we will begin implementing it in New York and Michigan. We’ll also begin designing a Healthy School Food Pathway program for Arizona.
In 2026, we expect to support nearly 1,000 pre-apprentices and apprentices across 100 school districts, strengthening skills, retention, and leadership in school food kitchens.
Building the school food workforce in more states
We will significantly scale Healthy School Food Pathway, the nation’s first registered apprenticeship for school food professionals. The program is currently active in California, Colorado, and Virginia. This year, we will begin implementing it in New York and Michigan. We’ll also begin designing a Healthy School Food Pathway program for Arizona.
In 2026, we expect to support nearly 1,000 pre-apprentices and apprentices across 100 school districts, strengthening skills, retention, and leadership in school food kitchens.
Strengthening our advocacy through coalitions
Guided by our policy roadmap, The Scratch Cooking in Schools Solution, we will deepen our coalition-based advocacy to advance universal school meals, equipment funding, and training and workforce investment at the state level. We will also pursue a national pathway toward offering scratch-cooking apprenticeships across the country.
Strengthening our advocacy through coalitions
Guided by our policy roadmap, The Scratch Cooking in Schools Solution, we will deepen our coalition-based advocacy to advance universal school meals, equipment funding, and training and workforce investment at the state level. We will also pursue a national pathway toward offering scratch-cooking apprenticeships across the country.
Expanding values-aligned procurement
In 2026, we will expand our Values-Aligned Procurement Collectives, which have been in a pilot phase in California. These collectives help schools leverage their combined purchasing power to procure ingredients that align with their social and environmental values.
They also reduce administrative burdens, improve financial outcomes, and connect schools to values-aligned farmers and vendors—building more resilient, just food systems. We will be adding new collectives in California, while launching the program in Arizona.
Expanding values-aligned procurement
In 2026, we will expand our Values-Aligned Procurement Collectives, which have been in a pilot phase in California. These collectives help schools leverage their combined purchasing power to procure ingredients that align with their social and environmental values.
They also reduce administrative burdens, improve financial outcomes, and connect schools to values-aligned farmers and vendors—building more resilient, just food systems. We will be adding new collectives in California, while launching the program in Arizona.
