Our Story
Get to know the Chef Ann Foundation and why we're on a mission to get schools cooking.
Our Story
Get to know the Chef Ann Foundation and why we're on a mission to get schools cooking.
What We Do
We help schools replace ultraprocessed foods with cooked-from-scratch meals. Over half a century of underinvesting in school food programs and undervaluing the people who power them has led to a school food system that is dominated by ultraprocessed foods, generates massive amounts of waste, and is disconnected from local food producers.
That's why we're working to change the system. This means reimagining what school food could look like if we focus on serving kids the best meals possible. Meals made with fresh, whole ingredients sourced from local farms that protect the environment. Meals that help kids focus in class. Meals that kids actually want to eat.Â
What We Do
We help schools replace ultraprocessed foods with cooked-from-scratch meals. Over half a century of underinvesting in school food programs and undervaluing the people who power them has led to a school food system that is dominated by ultraprocessed foods, generates massive amounts of waste, and is disconnected from local food producers.
That's why we're working to change the system. This means reimagining what school food could look like if we focus on serving kids the best meals possible. Meals made with fresh, whole ingredients sourced from local farms that protect the environment. Meals that help kids focus in class. Meals that kids actually want to eat.Â
Today, more than 60% of a typical child’s diet is made up of ultraprocessed food. High in salt, sugars, and artificial additives with limited nutritional value, these foods are linked to lower academic performance and chronic health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and depression and anxiety.Â
Nearly 30 million students eat school breakfast and or school lunch — that’s more than half of all students enrolled in K-12 public and private schools across the U.S. Given its reach, improving the quality of school food is one of the most effective, yet overlooked, solutions for protecting children’s health.Â
The foods we eat as kids influence our lifelong eating habits. Improving school food can be one of our most powerful tools to foster positive eating habits and prevent dietary disease before it starts.
Cooking in schools unlocks other important academic, environmental, and community benefits. This includes better learning outcomes among students, less food waste and carbon emissions, stronger local economies, more and better jobs, and a lifeline for food-insecure households.Â
Our Impact
Since 2009, we've reached more than 19,000 schools, 35,000 school food professionals, and 5.9 million students with our initiatives to make school food healthier, tastier, and more sustainable.Â
Read stories about the impact of our work and the people who power it on our blog.
Our Impact
Since 2009, we've reached more than 19,000 schools, 35,000 school food professionals, and 5.9 million students with our initiatives to make school food healthier, tastier, and more sustainable.Â
Read stories about the impact of our work and the people who power it on our blog.
