About

School food offers a mission-driven, creative, culinary career path focused on supporting the health of children so they can thrive in the classroom — and beyond. Healthy School Food Pathway helps aspiring, beginner, and experienced school food professionals gain the skills they need to create and manage successful K–12 scratch-cook meal operations. 

The program consists of three components: 

• Pre-Apprenticeship for aspiring and beginner school food professionals 
• Apprenticeship for individuals who complete the Pre-Apprenticeship and want to deepen their knowledge and skills 
• Fellowship for mid- and upper-level school food professionals who want to become leaders in school food change

The Pre-Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship are currently available in California and Colorado (more states to come!); the Fellowship is available nationwide.

Pre-Apprenticeship

The Healthy School Food Pathway Pre-Apprenticeship provides an entry point to a career in healthy, scratch-cooked school food. It is designed for individuals who have some to no experience in school food or scratch cooking. 

As part of the Pre-Apprenticeship, participants complete paid hands-on culinary training, virtual learning sessions, and courses through Chef Ann Foundation’s School Food Institute. Pre-Apprenticeship graduates are eligible to advance to the nine-month Apprenticeship program (details below).

To learn more about the California Healthy School Food Pathway Pre-Apprenticeship, click here. 

To learn more about the Colorado Healthy School Food Pathway Pre-Apprenticeship, click here. 

Apprenticeship

Individuals who complete the Pre-Apprenticeship are eligible to deepen their knowledge and skills by participating in the more comprehensive Healthy School Food Pathway Apprenticeship program. 

• Nine months of paid, on-the-job learning over a full school year (24 hours per week)
• Online courses through the Institute of Child Nutrition (59 hours) and Chef Ann Foundation’s School Food Institute (40 hours)
• 18 live virtual learning sessions with scratch-cooking and school food experts (45 hours)
• Networking opportunities with other school food professionals

Apprenticeship is available to California and Colorado Pre-Apprenticeship graduates only.

Fellowship

The Healthy School Food Pathway Fellowship helps experienced school food professionals realize their visions for school food change — both locally in their home districts and at a national scale. 

Over 13 months, Fellows: 

• Cultivate leadership skills
• Learn how school food is influenced by and affects the U.S. food system at large
• Become experts on and advocates for healthy school food policy
• Expand their professional network

The Fellowship culminates in a capstone project that benefits each Fellow’s home district while simultaneously serving as a model for school food programs everywhere. 

Applications for the 2025 Fellowship cohort are now closed. Stay tuned — applications for the 2026 cohort will open on August 6, 2025.

Become a Host District

Are you a California or Colorado school district interested in hosting Healthy School Food Pathway Pre-Apprentices and Apprentices? More than 70 school districts are currently participating in the program — and the number continues to grow! 

The program benefits districts in a number of ways:

• Connects districts with workers who are passionate about healthy school food and scratch cooking
• Provides technical assistance to support day-to-day scratch cooking school food operations
• Develops school food teams’ skills to help districts achieve their unique school food goals
• Helps districts implement more scratch cooking to support student health and learning, as well as environmental sustainability goals — from reducing waste, to procuring more ingredients locally

If your district is interested in learning more about becoming a Healthy School Food Pathway host site, please complete this form. A Chef Ann Foundation team member will follow up with you.

Powered by School Food Professionals Campaign

Fresher. Healthier. Tastier. School food professionals are making it happen. We partnered with the state of California to launch a first-of-its-kind public education campaign that puts a spotlight on the skill, creativity, and commitment of school food professionals working to improve school meals.

Check out the campaign website to go behind the scenes with school food professionals who are leading the charge for school food change. You can also follow the campaign on social media on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook.