Jeff Denton wins FAME’s top honor

Jeff Denton, director of child nutrition for Ponca City (Okla.) Public Schools has been chosen Golden School Foodservice Director of the Year in the Foodservice Achievement Management Excellence (FAME) awards program.

The FAME program, now in its 26th year, recognizes excellence in school nutrition programs in several categories. The awards are sponsored by Basic American Foods, Schwan’s Food Service Inc., and Tyson Foods Inc.
According to the FAME committee, Denton is being recognized for his commitment to innovation in child nutrition in his 25-year career as a foodservice director.  “He is passionate about helping students understand the benefits of healthy food options and has worked to increase fruit and vegetable consumption by 60 percent over 4-years,” stated the committee in a news release. “He does this through personal interaction with students at all grade levels, teaching them to take responsibility for the foods they eat.

“Chef Denton has had to overcome adverse conditions in his district when he was challenged with shrinking enrollment and state mandates for lower income students that went unfunded. He was able to increase participation by creating a “layers of flavor” concept with redesigned bid documents for better pricing and incorporating ways to convert students from a la carte to participation in solid reimbursable meals.”
His most recent challenge, the committee added, came from a district-directed increase in salaries and equipment improvement costs to adhere to new guidelines for aging equipment. He was able to meet these budget requirements for salaries and equipment while starting the year with a $750,000 surplus.

Denton, along with six other award recipients, will be honored during the Child Nutrition and Industry Conference, to be held Jan. 10-13 in Scottsdale, Ariz. The other award winners are: