Resources for School Foodservice
Introducing New Recipes and Products to Students
Find out more information about ways to incorporate healthy options to student lunches in impactful and successful ways. Learn about successful collaborations between School Districts and Corporate Members, view collaboration recipes, and download resources for your district!
Since 2015, the CIA Healthy Kids Collaborative has worked collectively to explore culinary solutions to increase the availability and acceptance of healthy foods in schools, engage with leading suppliers and stakeholders to gain insights and ideas and to influence solutions, and share insights and solutions widely with school districts across the United States. As the members collaborate to share insights and innovate around operations, flavor and menu strategy, they have developed resources, best practices and training protocols for the school food industry. Browse through our current collection of resources below and share with your colleagues interested in a healthier, more sustainable future for the school foodservice.
Planet Forward Youtube Channel
Check out the Planet Forward Working Group Youtube Channel, featuring short videos to help school nutrition professionals make intelligent choices in school kitchens and cafeterias that are planet-friendly and healthy for our school communities.
This channel is updated frequently, so be sure to subscribe!
Plant-Forward Recipes
What happens when The Culinary Institute of America brings school food service professionals, chefs, non-profit leaders and healthy food companies together to think about what is needed to create healthier and delicious school food? A project dedicated to creating culinary inspired, USDA compliant, plant-forward recipes for school lunch nationwide. The CIA’s Healthy Kids Collaborative with support from Whole Kids Foundation is excited to bring you the first set of plant-forward recipes.
2019-20 K-12 Trends Report
Drawing on data, research, and insights compiled prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this 2019-20 newsletter, produced by The Culinary Institute of America’s Healthy Kids Collaborative along with leading food industry market research firm Datassential, takes a look at the top K-12 trends at schools throughout the country. While the pandemic turned school nutrition completely upside down, the underlying forces driving these trends, and especially the top two trends of indigenous cuisine and planetary sustainability, undoubtedly persist albeit in adapted forms. Discover what these trends are, find out how you can use them, and read insights from cutting-edge K-12 operators who have already successfully implemented these trends in their schools.
Culinary Innovation Webinars
Join the HKC Community and tune in to informative and educational webinars presented by our Premier Gold and Silver level Corporate Members. Learn about sustainability practices, innovations in the K-12 food system, how companies are using the Heathy Kids Collaborative principles and working groups to leverage and change their business and products and get in-depth looks into the guiding principles of our corporate members.