United States
Every day in Cleveland, Ohio, 100% of the district's 36,298 students walk into school cafeterias eligible for free lunch. With so many students bringing their curiosity (and their appetites) to school cafeterias, Cleveland Metropolitan School District saw an opportunity to transform how these students experience healthy food at school.
Over 29 million kids participated in the National School Lunch Program in 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Yet many schools across the U.S. have historically lacked the infrastructure and resources to provide students with consistent access to fresh fruits and vegetables during the school day.
Salad Bars to Schools is operated by the Chef Ann Foundation with support from Whole Foods Market Foundation. The program provides schools with salad bar equipment, recipes and training resources. Since 2010, when the program began, Salad Bars to Schools has reached over 3 million students across the country.
Last year, Cleveland Metro School District, one of Ohio's largest urban school systems, received 46 salad bars through Chef Ann Foundation's Salad Bars to Schools program. Staff have expanded their culinary skills through Chef Ann's Sustainable Food Institute courses, receiving training in food safety, knife skills and produce preparation. The district now operates 16 hydroponic growing towers that produce fresh lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and herbs that go directly into school salad bars. Their Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program focuses on seasonality to build a fresh, rotating salad bar selection, providing students with a well-rounded food education experience. They've also established partnerships with local farms including Food Strong, Feed Our Future, and Village Family Farms, bringing farmers who reflect the student population into cafeterias as role models.
"Seeing kids tear up a salad bar really warms my heart," says Robert Gorman, Executive Director of School Nutrition at Cleveland Metro School District. "Seeing kids grabbing fruit & vegetables off the salad bar is my 'why.’"
The district continues working toward their goal of having a salad bar in every school, with 26 more bars still needed to complete their vision. Students are building healthy eating habits, staff are developing new culinary expertise and the entire district is creating a culture where fresh, nutritious food is part of every school day.
Whole Foods Market Foundation also supports Cleveland Metropolitan School District as part of the Chef Ann Foundation's Get Schools Cooking Cohort 6, a comprehensive three-year program that guides districts with customized operational support to help them move towards more scratch cooking.