With decades of experience providing food service for schools, childcare centers and institutional programs, CKC Good Food brings expert level coordination and care to summer camp dining.
Pre-Camp Planning
Our recipe & menu development team worked feverishly to complete menu planning, recipe testing and an ordering guide before the Girl Scouts’ camp staff reported for training in early June. Even though the private food service program doesn’t require nutritional analysis, the recipes were entered into our nutritional software, which is integrated with our proprietary tagger system, to streamline procurement, inventory and meal prep.
Meanwhile, our operations team strategized the most efficient way to prep and cook meals at three widely dispersed camps, each with different cooking equipment and facilities. The solution: prep many of the entrees, particularly vegetarian, gluten-free and breakfasts, in the commissary kitchen the day prior to service and deliver to the camps, where they would be heated onsite the next day. Procurement is also handled by the commissary, with all products shipped to the commissary warehouse rather than directly to camps, where storage space is limited. Each camp site receives three deliveries a week from the commissary warehouse.
Staffing the camps also required creativity. Rather than being laid off for the summer, several of our team members requested to work at camps, even if it meant working weekends and into the evening, which is unusual for our team members currently. Camp teams members work alternating four 10-hour shifts with three days off to cover the 7-day a week schedule.
Our camp teams had two weeks to work with the menu rotation, serving camp staff before the first busloads of campers arrived the week of June 16.
Camp Menus and Dining Experience Unique
Beyond serving three meals and two snacks every day, there are many elements of Girl Scout camp food service that sets its dining program apart from other client partners CKC Good Food serves, including:
Deconstructed Meals
Many of the new camp recipes are served deconstructed to allow campers to choose the items they like best. A breakfast bar with fresh-baked scones and biscuits are offered alongside Greek yogurt with honey, granola and fresh fruit; and bagels with peanut butter, jelly, cream cheese and jam. The build-your-own Mexican egg scramble includes eggs, beef & bean chili, cheese, sour cream with cornbread. A make-your-own breakfast sandwich follows a similar model with bagels or croissants with several fillings of the campers’ choosing.
Even lunch and dinner entrees that may seem incomplete as individual components are served separately. Some campers might choose to eat stuffed cheese ravioli without the marinara sauce or skip the complete Italian rosy parmesan chicken penne by just eating buttered pasta.
At breakfast, regular and gluten-free cereals are available for those who prefer that option over the main entree of the day. Lunch and dinner always include a salad bar.
Teaching Manners
Girl Scouts River Valleys aims to teach campers politeness and table manners while also building camaraderie among one another. In the dining hall, this is done through shared responsibilities in clearing tables, cleaning the dining hall and having elements of every meal served at the table family style. At lunch and dinner, family style is the norm – whether the meal is BBQ shredded chicken mac with dinner rolls, buttered broccoli and fruit; or the all-beef pub burger with all its toppings, tater tots, pork-free baked beans and fruit – nearly every complete meal is served family style.
Dessert
Yes, campers, there’s dessert – made fresh onsite – with every dinner. Frosted brownies, vanilla cake with cool whip and berries, frosted chocolate cake with sprinkles, M&M cookies…Sweet endings to memorable days adventuring outdoors.
We’re pretty proud of the recipes and menus that are being served at Girl Scouts River Valleys camps this summer. With a warm reception at camp, some of these recipes may find their way onto our fall menus for our private food service programs.
