The First-of-Its-Kind School Food Culinary Intensive

At the Chef Ann Foundation, our mission is to ensure that school food professionals have the resources, funding, and support they need to provide fresh, delicious, cooked-from-scratch meals that support the health of children and our planet. A critical step in achieving this is phasing out ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) that dominate too many school meal programs. By giving food service teams hands-on culinary skills and operational tools, we empower districts to replace UPFs with fresh, scratch-cooked recipes.

Why We’re Hosting This Event

We’re trading traditional lecture halls for real-world school kitchens to solve the unique challenges of high-volume, scratch-made cooking. This training is built by school food professionals, for school food professionals who understand the day-to-day realities of service.

Participants will work directly inside active school kitchens, mastering culinary techniques and batch-cooking methods that stand up to the speed of a lunch rush. By analyzing their own district's financial and menu data, food service leaders will construct an actionable operational roadmap to systematically replace UPFs with fresh, scratch-cooked recipes. Above all, attendees will work side-by-side with a room of peers committed to the exact same goal: advancing scratch cooking one step, and one meal, at a time.
 

Meet the Participants

Following the intensive, districts will receive a full year of guidance through our Community of Practice to turn their roadmaps into reality. Learn more about the initiative. 

The Starting From Scratch: A School Food Culinary Intensive is made possible by the Chef Ann Foundation's Catalytic Fund. This strategic fund supports our mission to ensure school food professionals have the resources and hands-on support they need to transition to whole-ingredient, scratch cooking. By investing in this Intensive, the Catalytic Fund drives systemic change, empowering districts to move away from processed 'heat-and-serve' models toward fresh, healthy meals that support the well-being of both children and our planet. To learn more about the Catalytic Fund, contact info@chefannfoundation.org.