What’s New and What’s Next in K-12 Dining

Culinary

While school is winding down for the summer, Chartwells is planning ahead for the tried-and-true and soon-to-be student favorites hitting cafeteria menus this fall. During our annual Supplier Summit held last month, we brought together our culinary, nutrition, purchasing, and operations teams with our leading suppliers to discuss the latest news of the tray, address key changes happening in the K-12 food service industry, and how we’re working together to keep our school district partners ahead of the pack.

Here are the highlights from this year’s summit:

What’s Trending: Bringing together our insights from serving over 2 million meals a day in school cafeterias and our suppliers’ insights from their business across commercial food service, restaurants, grocery stores, and more, we have a comprehensive look at what kids are eating at home and while out and about. Unexpected combinations, international flavors, and a preference for anything dippable topped the list of cravings this year. As we’re adding new countries to our Global Eats program and launching Dip’N to Flavor menu features this fall, we’re delivering on what kids want.

ANC Preview: Ahead of the School Nutrition Association’s Annual National Conference (ANC) later this summer, our teams got a preview of our suppliers’ new products coming to K-12 cafeterias. From sandwich rolls baked in-house and new savory options for breakfast on the go or in the classroom to bold flavors being added to longtime favorites and fresh combos of heat and sweet, our teams are already planning for how to integrate these new offerings into our programs.

Meal Pattern Updates: Announced in April 2024, the first round of added sugar updates take effect in the upcoming school year. The new regulations are being phased in beginning SY 2025-26, first addressing added sugar limits for cereal, yogurt, and flavored milk. Through collaboration with our supplier partners, we’re fully prepared to ensure all meals served during the upcoming school year meet the new limits. Looking ahead, weekly added sugar limits go into effect beginning SY 2027-28, and our suppliers are already working ahead to reformulate certain products.

Bans on Additives and Dyes: Many states have recently proposed changes or passed their own laws regarding bans on a variety of additives and dyes, with some states expecting products served in school meal programs to be compliant this year. As we are diligently tracking all proposed and passed laws on food dyes and additives at the state and federal levels, we’re coordinating with our suppliers to confirm what products are already compliant with these laws and understand their plans to phase out certain additives and dyes. Through that collaboration, we’ve audited the ingredients of every product we serve to determine compliance, and based on our initial analysis, approximately 90% of ingredients are already compliant with the new laws, with more on the way.