Garden to Cafeteria Toolkit

Garden Grant | Young Mens Christian Association Inc. | New Beford, MA

About the Toolkit

Slow Food USA, in partnership with the WFM Foundation, has developed a toolkit to help school district food services safely bring school garden produce onto the lunch line!

The toolkit builds off the successes and safety protocols of four school districts across the United States to provide templates and a step-by-step process to help District Food Services develop their own protocols. It is developed based on the successes of the following school districts:

• Austin Independent School District
• Chicago Public Schools
• Denver Public Schools
• San Diego Unified School District

Download the toolkit for free or purchase a hard copy here. You can also download the sample GTC protocols from each of the above districts.

Download the Toolkit Here

Webinar Series: Build Your District’s Garden to Cafeteria Program

The Whole Foods Market Foundation and Slow Food USA hosted a webinar series to provide technical support for the Garden to Cafeteria Toolkit.

Each webinar, led by Andrew Nowak of Slow Food USA, covered a portion of the toolkit and featured special guests from school districts that have successfully launched their Garden to Cafeteria program using the toolkit.

Note: The webinar series was held in 2018-2019 and some information about availability and other grant programs may have been updated.

  • Webinar 1: Intro to the Toolkit

  • Webinar 2: Chapters 1 & 2: Building your Garden to Cafeteria Team and Exploring Concerns

  • Webinar 3: Chapters 3 & 4: Designing Your District’s Protocols

  • Webinar 4: Chapter 5: How to Pay for the Produce

  • Webinar 5: Chapter 6: Launching Your Garden to Cafeteria Program