Meet the School Meal Program A-Team

Here’s one that many parents will relate to…you know that thing when your child comes home from camp or someone else’s house, telling you how tasty they found the kind of food they refuse to eat at home? Well, it turns out that this slightly frustrating situation is a bonus of our new School Meal Program. Read on to find out more…

A New Program for the A-Team

Our School Meal Program launched in September and is an initiative with our partners School District 48 and the District of Squamish. In this program, we deliver hundreds of lunches daily to students across Squamish. Both hot and cold foods are on the menu. You can read more about the program here.

Running the program is our kitchen team, who have unofficially renamed themselves “the A-Team.” They have now spent a good few weeks in our downtown commercial kitchen getting acquainted with each other, the program, the kitchen and the menus. We thought it was time we checked in with them to find out more.

In our team is Chef Michael, along with Cooks Shane, Sarah, Ruby and Mark. Joining the team a few hours a week to coordinate waste operations is our very own Programs Coordinator, Marie-ève. As for the program, it proved an instant hit. We’d expected around 300 lunches with growth in the following weeks or months. But within two weeks, we were maxing out at 385-485 lunches (now with a waitlist) depending on the day of the week.

With this enthusiastic program uptake, the new team was launched in at the deep end. So, how’s it all going?

A Day in the Life

At 7 AM, when many people are thinking about their first coffee, our team is in the kitchen, strategizing on the particular logistics of the day ahead. They then spend around an hour prepping food either for that day or the next. Plating the food starts around 9:30 AM, and with so many dishes to prepare, it’s all hands on deck for a kitchen assembly line.

Deliveries begin around 11:15 AM. The drivers load up their cars with crates and set off for the schools. Volunteer drivers also assist with this. Their precious cargo includes food such as chicken tacos, veggie chilli or teriyaki noodles.

Once delivered, it’s time for their own well-earned lunch. The team all eats together, enjoying the rest and the time to bond. They have only known each other for a matter of weeks, but all enjoy each other’s company.

Food for the next day is prepped in the afternoon before the team heads home around 3 PM.

The Small and the Mighty

Our kitchen, in the 55 Activity Centre, is small for preparing almost 500 lunches daily, but our team is mighty. To make best use of space, they turn over the stock of food items quickly. This requires efficient planning but cuts down on the storage space needed. The team also had some time before the program began to do dry runs and plan the best use of space.

Three of the team bring plenty of experience in high-volume kitchens. Chef Michael was Head Chef for catering and events at the Sea to Sky Gondola. Sarah was Kitchen Manager at a local forest education camp, and Shane, a qualified Sous Chef from the Toronto area, also brings his expertise in administration. Their tricks of the trade help keep the kitchen running smoothly, even when the order volume is so high.

The other volume the team pays attention to is the speaker volume! With Shane’s good taste in playlists, the team stays entertained while they work hard, also buoyed by Mark’s positive energy.

Menus Making a Difference

When asked what the best thing is about working on this program, there were a few answers. Overall, the team enjoys making a difference in the community. By promoting real food and home-style cooking, they know they are helping families in the goal of getting kids to eat healthier food. And as mentioned earlier, students are trying and enjoying new foods, which is definitely a win.

But it’s not all salads and vegetables on the menu. Ruby brings her extensive baking background. With Sarah’s experience in kids’ camp kitchens, she brings tried and tested recipes too. Chef Michael is a parent and is always looking at the menus through the eyes of both parents and kids. The team trials different foods and is leaning into kid-friendly, adventurous and ethnic flavours. They are planning for an upcoming burrito day to test that out, as well as butter chicken another day.

Thank you to the students at École Squamish Elementary for letting us join their lunch to photograph them.

Not every food is received enthusiastically (sorry quinoa!), but overall, the feedback from schools and parents has been great, and the team are thrilled. Just don’t expect another quesadilla day though. That day ended with a “never again” as it took so much longer to prepare than anticipated.

So far, the feedback has been unofficial, but the team is exploring a more structured feedback process in the future.

Beyond the menus, the program is using produce from the Downtown School Farm and four other farms in Squamish and Pemberton. This supports local agri-food businesses and lowers the amount of food to be brought in from elsewhere. And with Marie-ève bringing her knowledge of Squamish CAN’s values and waste diversion best practices, it allows the program to strive to meet its goals of limiting waste as much as is currently feasible. There are plans to lower the waste even more as time goes on.

If supplying the school lunches wasn’t enough, the team, and Ruby specifically, has also taken ownership of the Squamish schools’ breakfast program. Each week, breakfast items are delivered to eight schools for use as needed. On top of all that, baked goods, with soup on Fridays, are now offered in the 55 Activity Centre on a “by donation” basis.

As we said, they really are a mighty team!

Delivering the Team a Van

While the team is doing wonders, one thing that would help the program significantly is a dedicated delivery vehicle. Currently, the drivers use their own vehicles, which is not efficient as car trunks are not ideal for carrying the lunch crates. As the volume of lunches is higher than anticipated, the cars are just not big enough. An average of three people head out every day on deliveries.

Tuesday mornings are also tricky, as volunteers need to pick up the breakfast program bins to return them to the kitchen for restocking. The onus is currently on the schools to do this, but a van would allow a more seamless pickup across town.

Squamish CAN is running a fundraising campaign to raise $50,000 for the purchase and outfitting of a van. This would consolidate and better control the deliveries, making it easier on the team and the schools.

We would love to deliver a van to the team that delivers healthy and nutritious food to students across town. There are different sponsorship levels, and any contribution helps. You can learn more about the campaign here.

We would like to thank our supporters for helping to bring this project to life.

Photos by Nina LaFlamme Photography