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First day hoorays: 9 seriously cool school menu items

Check out these “first day favorites” from Chartwells K12 accounts across the country, menu items that get the school lunch party started for the new school year.

Tara Fitzpatrick, Senior Editor

September 22, 2022

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Remember cracking open that perfectly blank notebook, excited and ready for the year ahead? The school foodservice professionals of Chartwells K12 have been feeling the same way, except instead of blank notebooks, it’s blank menus, waiting to be filled in with favorites, both old and new. 

The focus for the culinary group’s “first day favorites” is on setting the tone, no matter what is served: Making lunch a fun, nourishing part of the school day in the year ahead. 

At Chartwells K12 accounts across the country, the chefs and kitchen crews introduced themselves to students and teachers through fun menu items ranging from walking tacos to a pizza-pasta mashup to a dessert-for-breakfast banana split, a plant-powered bar setup, the hearty stuffed potato all the football players swear by and more. Plus, we revisit Wichita Falls ISD’s Western Burger, a lost-and-found retro recipe favorite FM first heard about a few years ago.

About the Author

Tara Fitzpatrick

Senior Editor, Informa Restaurant & Food Group

Tara Fitzpatrick is Food Management’s senior editor and a contributor to Restaurant Hospitality and Nation’s Restaurant News, creating editorial content for digital, print and events. Tara holds a bachelor of science degree from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kent State University. Before joining Food Management in 2008, Tara was associate editor at National Association of College Stores in Oberlin, Ohio. Prior to that, Tara worked as a newspaper reporter in her hometown of Lorain, Ohio, where she lives now. Tara is a fan of food history, legends, lore, ghost stories, urban farming and old cookbooks. 

Tara Fitzpatrick’s areas of expertise include the onsite foodservice industry (K-12 schools, colleges and universities, healthcare and B&I), menu trends, sustainability in foodservice, senior dining, farm-to-table and innovation.

Tara Fitzpatrick is a frequent webinar and podcast host and has served on the board of directors for IFEC (International Food Editors Consortium).

Tara Fitzpatrick’s experience:

Senior Editor, Food Management (Feb 2008-present)

Associate Editor, National Association of College Stores (2005-2008)

Reporter, The Morning Journal (2002-2005)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-fitzpatrick-4a08451/

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