Aurora Charter School

Good food is at the heart of a successful school food service program. There are no short cuts when it comes to pleasing students. Menus need to be visually appealing, flavorful and varied. And they are required to be nutritious to satisfy the USDA. That’s CKC Good Food’s specialty, according to Naomi Christianson, Business Administrator at Aurora Charter School, a preK-8 school in Minneapolis serving a largely Hispanic population.

“CKC’s menus are healthy, diverse, fun,” she said.

“Because they are so diligent about keeping their menus to a high standard, I don’t have to worry about our students getting the nutrition they need. And they’re constantly re-evaluating their menu options and are willing to listen to the school and come up with solutions, when needed.”

CKC Good Food takes much of the work out of menu planning and recordkeeping for its clients. Food Service Directors can be assured the menus meet all USDA guidelines for the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. That frees up their time to focus on directing staff to provide great service and encourage students to expand their taste palette.

“The greatest advantage to working with CKC is that they have already done most of the work for us,” Christianson said.

“Most of the time, a person heading a food service program would have to spend time developing tasty, regulated meals and menus, creating production records for every meal, researching USDA guidelines, developing HACCP manuals, etc. I never question if their menus are compliant or if their guidance and support in any area are correct. They know their food and their schools better than anyone.”