{"id":11024,"date":"2023-04-26T14:50:07","date_gmt":"2023-04-26T18:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=11024"},"modified":"2023-04-27T09:48:27","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T13:48:27","slug":"from-a-delivery-and-garden-truck-to-a-food-truck-meet-the-new-food-services-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/from-a-delivery-and-garden-truck-to-a-food-truck-meet-the-new-food-services-model\/","title":{"rendered":"From a delivery and garden truck to a food truck \u2013 meet the new food services model"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

-Svetla Tomanova<\/em><\/p>\n

On a balmy spring day, a new food service model was introduced to the students of Green Run High School: a food truck. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It all started during COVID-19 when the Office of Food Services began offering food deliveries to two apartment communities. The humanitarian efforts continued for several months, and the idea for a food truck came to fruition soon after.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Great teamwork goes into feeding our community\u2019s future, one student at a time.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The truck was donated by the transportation department and retrofitted by Venture Food Trucks. Other sponsors included the No Kid Hungry nonprofit organization, the Hansen Family Foundation, OnieTonie Designs and various Virginia Beach City Public Schools departments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are always looking for creative avenues to engage students in school nutrition programs, whether it be through healthy scratch-cooked meals offered in the cafeterias, or nutrition education and school gardens,\u201d said Viorica \u201cVicka\u201d Harrison, director of the Office of Food Services.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This school kitchen on wheels will be another serving line for school cafeterias and help reduce wait times, especially in high schools during One Lunch. The food truck offers the same menu as the cafeteria and is capable of serving about 200 meals a day. Green Run High was the first school to enjoy the food truck but more schools will experience this treat in the coming weeks. The Food Services office is planning on bringing it to every high school. If there is interest, they will extend the program to middle schools.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Simple, colorful and happy \u2013 that is how Troy Summerell, an artist and founder of OnieTonie Design, envisioned this truck.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Cuban sandwich was the popular choice for the day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cVeggies and fruits are part of the menu, and so it was fitting they take a central stage on the truck’s design,\u201d said Summerell. \u201cIt is great to support this innovative effort.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The nice weather brought many students outside keen to sample the truck offerings, and of course, the food truck special: the Cuban sandwich, which was the most popular choice for the day. Other items on the menu included Big Daddy\u2019s Scratch Ready Pizza, Sloppy Joe on Bun, Fresh Entr\u00e9e Caesar salad, tater tots, fresh fruit, veggie salads and milk. Everybody\u2019s enthusiasm was palpable.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a long road and it is pretty exciting to see the students\u2019 enthusiasm in the food truck,\u201d said Rachel Amato, assistant director of the Office of Food Services. \u201cThat is why we are here \u2013 to provide what kids love, but in a healthy way.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Office of Food Services will use this truck offseason for catering events to produce extra funding for their initiatives.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from serving healthy and tasty food, Harrison hopes that this fun, exciting and unique model will help market the Scratch Cooking Initiative and increase student participation in school meals.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an ongoing effort,\u201d Harrison added. \u201cOur school nutrition professionals are always developing new recipes and ways to appeal to our very diverse student body while increasing scratch and speed scratch menu items by at least 5% per year in all cafeterias. Pairing healthy food choices with an outdoor atmosphere reinforces the division\u2019s commitment to supporting our students\u2019 health and wellness \u2013 we can\u2019t wait to bring the food truck to a school near you.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Brenda Burford (Cafeteria Manager, Green Run HS), John Araujo (Food Services Area Supervisor), Nicholas Vedia (Sous Chef), Rachel Amato (Assistant Director, Food Services), Maritza Rodriguez-Brown (Culinary Development Chef Assistant), Viorica \u201cVicka\u201d Harrison (Director, Food Services), Maria \u201cAngel\u201d Austria (Culinary Development Chef Assistant), Cedric Jackson (Culinary Development Chef Assistant), Susan Marihew (Culinary Development Chef Assistant)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

-Svetla Tomanova On a balmy spring day, a new food service model was introduced to the students of Green Run High School: a food truck. \u00a0 It all started during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":11033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11024"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11044,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11024\/revisions\/11044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}