FM On Demand with Tara Fitzpatrick: K12 Chef to Watch Andre James makes school the hub to lift up a community

In this episode of FM On Demand with Tara Fitzpatrick, we get into a great conversation with K-12 Chef to Watch Andre James, who, along with the Maschio’s Food Service team, is currently feeding kids over the summer. We talk about students returning to school to find more scratch-made menu items, gradually phased into a dozen schools. James walks us through the process of reuniting 80 employees and getting everyone on the same page for feeding not just kids, but the community, too, as tough times continue and families are food insecure even as the world opens back up.

He offers actionable advice about reaching out to local organizations to help make a difference in your community and he has some really good tips on collecting items for food banks. Also, an interesting thing about James: He started a special-needs program that provides education and job readiness, and his inspiration is his brother. We talk about that, too.