Contract survives legal challenge in San Francisco schools

Jan. 7—When the kids arrive back at school Monday in San Francisco after their winter break, fresher new food will be awaiting them after the district’s new contract with Oakland’s Revolution Foods survived a legal challenge that sought to keep the old food provider in place.

In October, the San Francisco Unified School District put out a bid for a new meal provider. At the time, officials said they hoped to find a company that would serve meals that were not prepared, frozen and then reheated. In late November, the district said it had selected Oakland, Calif.-based Revolution Foods as the new provider for the roughly 35,000 meals served daily. The contract is worth about $9 million per year. But Preferred Meals Systems, the district’s food provider since 2003, challenged Revolution Foods’ ability to provide the meals, arguing that the company did not have any contracts as large as the district’s.