Q&A With Co-Founders Chef Ann Cooper & Mara Fleishman
May 28, 2026 | By
How did a partnership between a renegade lunch lady and a parent of three bloom into an organization that has helped bring healthier school meals to 5.9 million students?
Mara: I met Ann at a local food systems event in Boulder, Colorado. I was connected to the group through my work at Whole Foods Market at the time, where I was the Global Director of Partnerships & Philanthropy. But I was also a parent of young kids, and was becoming more and more interested in school food.
Ann: It was you and some other moms who really started the school food movement in Boulder. I approached Mara with this idea about funding The Lunch Box. I was getting lots of questions from school food professionals about how they could do more scratch cooking. I had the idea of creating an actual lunch box and putting all of the recipes and materials in it and then I realized it needed to be online. I wanted to create a free online scratch cooking resource library for schools to make these resources and the insights I gleaned from years of working to improve school food more accessible to everyone. Nothing like this existed.
Mara: I met Ann at a local food systems event in Boulder, Colorado. I was connected to the group through my work at Whole Foods Market at the time, where I was the Global Director of Partnerships & Philanthropy. But I was also a parent of young kids, and was becoming more and more interested in school food.
Ann: It was you and some other moms who really started the school food movement in Boulder. I approached Mara with this idea about funding The Lunch Box. I was getting lots of questions from school food professionals about how they could do more scratch cooking. I had the idea of creating an actual lunch box and putting all of the recipes and materials in it and then I realized it needed to be online. I wanted to create a free online scratch cooking resource library for schools to make these resources and the insights I gleaned from years of working to improve school food more accessible to everyone. Nothing like this existed.
Mara Fleishman: When I started, I insisted we create a strategic plan. I spent six months talking to donors, school food professionals, parents, and government officials. Every time I mentioned Food Family Farming, people would say, “Is that the organization that Chef Ann started?” From a brand and marketing perspective, we were missing a big opportunity by not putting “Chef Ann” in the name.
Chef Ann Cooper: That strategic planning was brutal. It was just Mara, myself, and a couple of board members trying to wrangle this thing into a functional organization with a plan.
Mara Fleishman: We ultimately decided we needed to stop looking at the organization as just a resource provider, and instead build an organization that looked at the entire school food system — to identify and then break down the barriers to scratch cooking.
Mara Fleishman: When I started, I insisted we create a strategic plan. I spent six months talking to donors, school food professionals, parents, and government officials. Every time I mentioned Food Family Farming, people would say, “Is that the organization that Chef Ann started?” From a brand and marketing perspective, we were missing a big opportunity by not putting “Chef Ann” in the name.
Chef Ann Cooper: That strategic planning was brutal. It was just Mara, myself, and a couple of board members trying to wrangle this thing into a functional organization with a plan.
Mara Fleishman: We ultimately decided we needed to stop looking at the organization as just a resource provider, and instead build an organization that looked at the entire school food system — to identify and then break down the barriers to scratch cooking.
Chef Ann Cooper: I came out of the chef world — the world of “yes, Chef.” I believed I could just push through everything. Mara helped me focus and temper that attitude.
Mara Fleishman: We both get to this high level of big brainstorming. Then I go really micro, figuring out how we actually break down and operationalize an idea, scale it, and make it work.
Chef Ann Cooper: I’m not a process person. I’m 100% just, “Let’s f****** do it right now.” Mara operationalizes it.
Chef Ann Cooper: I came out of the chef world — the world of “yes, Chef.” I believed I could just push through everything. Mara helped me focus and temper that attitude.
Mara Fleishman: We both get to this high level of big brainstorming. Then I go really micro, figuring out how we actually break down and operationalize an idea, scale it, and make it work.
Chef Ann Cooper: I’m not a process person. I’m 100% just, “Let’s f****** do it right now.” Mara operationalizes it.
Chef Ann Cooper: It’s a new era. Going from 13 employees to almost 90, and a budget of under $3 million to $23 million in just a few years. That is a testament to Mara. She made that happen. I was always too busy just doing the work to think beyond it. It’s Mara’s vision that got us here.
Mara Fleishman: Ann and I fully agree that we are only as good as the programming we put out there. We tackle the big, complex, systemic issues in school food — labor modeling, fiscal modeling, procurement strategy, and facilities assessments. We figure out the real barriers to change. When a school wants to cook more meals from scratch, what are the ingrained, systemic issues they bump up against? Then we design programs that can change the system.
Chef Ann Cooper: You can’t change school food without looking at all the parts of school food — the food itself; how school food is funded and how school budgets work; how kitchens are built and equipped; how school food teams are trained and valued; and if kids are excited about the food and want to eat it.
Chef Ann Cooper: It’s a new era. Going from 13 employees to almost 90, and a budget of under $3 million to $23 million in just a few years. That is a testament to Mara. She made that happen. I was always too busy just doing the work to think beyond it. It’s Mara’s vision that got us here.
Mara Fleishman: Ann and I fully agree that we are only as good as the programming we put out there. We tackle the big, complex, systemic issues in school food — labor modeling, fiscal modeling, procurement strategy, and facilities assessments. We figure out the real barriers to change. When a school wants to cook more meals from scratch, what are the ingrained, systemic issues they bump up against? Then we design programs that can change the system.
Chef Ann Cooper: You can’t change school food without looking at all the parts of school food — the food itself; how school food is funded and how school budgets work; how kitchens are built and equipped; how school food teams are trained and valued; and if kids are excited about the food and want to eat it.
