“PCG Chefs For Change” to Improve Meals, Skills in CMS Middle and High Schools

Piedmont Culinary Guild, in collaboration with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, has initiated “PCG Chefs for Change – a program pairing local PCG chefs with school cafeteria staff and culinary-arts educators to provide additional staffing, professional development, and expanded menus for school cafeterias in eight CMS middle and high schools.

The program will be jointly coordinated by Jody Francisco, CMS manager of culinary development, and Kris Reid, PCG Executive Director.

“PCG is very excited to have our chef members out in the community helping to elevate the school lunch program for CMS,” said Reid. “Their work along with everything Jody Fransico is doing for CMS will no doubt move the needle on the quality of food being served to our most valuable community resource: our children.”

In all, 19 PCG member chefs are volunteering to work along side cafeteria workers in the selected schools to help improve and enhance their techniques – as well as provide feedback to Francisco to help create new, more nutritionally responsible dishes.

For example, PCG Member Julia Simon of Nourish is working with Francisco to expand the schools’ vegan and vegetarian options.

“Thanks to the incredibly passionate and dedicated chefs of the Piedmont Culinary Guild, we’re starting to break down barriers and opening minds to the numerous possibilities to what our food programs can become,” Francisco noted.

He added, “CMS is incredibly passionate about our students’ education experience, and we’re just as passionate about our students’ food experience. That’s why I’m so excited to create new partnerships with Charlotte’s numerous chef organizations and local chefs to help ensure we provide our students the very best food experience we can.”

In addition to assisting with CMS meal programs, the PCG chefs will be partnered with the culinary classes offered within the school system to work with students, creating recipes to compete in a culinary competition. The goal is to have the winners of this competition compete in the National Cooking for Change competition, held in Washington, DC.