In more recent years, people have been more concerned with what they eat and put into their bodies, and that concern has led to students being more conscious about what they eat during the school day. With a rise in organic, non-GMO, and dietary-specific food products, consumers are able to choose how they modify their diet. How has this affected our school lunch room options? I talked with Rebecca Cohen, the District Manager of Quest food services to find out how our lunch options have changed.
Where do you get your produce? Is it all local? Shipped?
“We get our produce from a supplier called Greco. They source local produce when available (depending on season and item). Local is defined as a 150 mile radius. It is delivered daily as needed by a driver. When we receive the product, we check to ensure everything we ordered is there and that it is the best quality. If it is not, we send it back.
In addition to produce, our coffee, baked goods/bread, cooking oils (Michigan), most chicken (Wisconsin), and turkey deli meat (Michigan) are local.”
How much of your food is made in the kitchen?
“We make all of our food in our kitchen (with exception of sushi). 85% of our food is from scratch with exception of grill items (fries, burgers, etc) but those items are brought in and cooked daily.”
How much does it cost?
“We get competitive pricing as we purchase the same products throughout our whole company and only can buy certain products to ensure they are the highest quality at the lowest prices.”
How often do we get food shipments?
“Our main supplier, GFS, comes twice a week and we get produce and bakery/bread daily. Other items like beverages, snacks and milk come once a week.”
Do you have the nutrition facts for all of the food?
“For the majority of our specials, you can find nutritional facts at www.questfmsnutrition.com and click on High School. It is organized by category (beef, sandwich, etc). Since a lot of our food is made to order, it is challenging to post nutritional information for everything. For any specific questions, you can reach out to the manager and we will get you the information.”
How does all of the food in the salad bar work? How often is it switched out?
“We have 22 different items on the salad bar that we prepare fresh produce daily for the salad bar. Each item is stored in cooler and set in salad bar within 30 minutes of service. Once it is salad bar, each item is checked for temperature (below 40 degrees). It is switched out daily.”
