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Who’s serving the best K-12 school meals in America?

School nutrition departments are honored for serving great-tasting meals in Food Management’s competition.

Becky Schilling, Group Content Director/Editor-in-chief

November 12, 2019

22 Slides
Yakisoba_with_Chicken_and_Vegetables.jpg
Locally made whole-grain rich yakisoba noodles with shredded cabbage and chicken tossed in yakisoba sauce. Served at Portland Public Schools (Oregon).

School meal programs don’t often get the kudos they deserve, so Food Management teamed up with sponsor Bush’s Beans to host the first Best K-12 Meal in America contest. Child nutrition professionals nominated their best offerings in 11 categories (breakfast, beef, bowl, chicken, pasta, pork, sandwich, seafood, soup, taco/burrito and vegetarian/meatless).

Directors from across the country submitted their best, showcasing flavors ranging from Indian to Japanese and Southwest United States. We’ve culled down the nominations to the winners here, but we’ll showcase some of the others in the coming weeks.

All meals had to meet USDA requirements under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and must be served as a reimbursable meal under the National School Lunch or Breakfast programs.

The entrée was the main component used in judging the competition, though full meals with sides that complement the entrée were given additional points. Judging was done by Food Management editors.

Without further ado, let’s meet the winners.

About the Author

Becky Schilling

Group Content Director/Editor-in-chief

Becky Schilling is Food Management’s editor-in-chief, and the group content director for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, managing editorial for digital, print and events for Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Hospitality, Food Management and Supermarket News media brands. Becky holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Texas A&M University and a master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Before joining Food Management in 2014, Becky was with FoodService Director magazine for seven years, the last two as editor-in-chief. Becky is a history nerd and a sports fanatic, especially college football—Gig'em Ags—and tennis. A born and raised Texan, Becky currently resides in New York City.

Becky Schilling’s areas of expertise include the onsite foodservice industry (K-12 schools, colleges and universities, healthcare and B&I), foodservice menus, operational best practices and innovation.

Becky Schilling is a frequent speaker at industry events including The Association for Healthcare Foodservice (AHF), The National Association of College & University Food Services (NACUFS) and The Society for Hospitality and Foodservice Management (SHFM).

Becky Schilling’s experience:

Group Content Director, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (Feb. 2020-present)

Editor-in-chief Food Management (Nov. 2014-present)

Director of Content Strategy & Optimization, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (March 2019-Feb. 2020)

Editor-in-chief, Supermarket News (April 2019-March 2019)

Executive Editor, Supermarket News (July 2016-April 2017)

Editor-in-chief, FoodService Director magazine (March 2013-Oct. 2014)

Managing Editor (FoodService Director magazine (March 2012-March 2013)

Associate Editor (FoodService Director magazine (Nov. 2007-March 2012)

Contact Becky Schilling at:

[email protected]

@bschilling_FM

https://www.linkedin.com/in/becky-schilling-39194ba/

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