Schwan’s Chef Collective™ is partnering with Charleston County School District Oct. 8-11 for a Kitchen Collaborative at West Ashley High School. This culinary event brings accomplished chefs from across the country together with district food service personnel, students and Schwan’s Food Service team members to create nutritious school lunch recipes.
Schwan’s Chef Collective members joining the Charleston culinary team include Food Network celebrity chefs Jet Tila and Todd Erickson, Top Chef Season 15 runner-up chef Adrienne Cheatham, and Houston-based restaurateur chef Uno Immanivong. This curated group of accomplished and up-and-coming chefs from across the country will work side by side with high school students, staff and Schwan’s Company internal team to create new recipes that can be easily executed in K-12 schools nationwide.
The goal is to create nutritious and innovative new menu items that are easy to make, meet nutritional guidelines, can be made with ingredients already found in school pantries and, most importantly, entice students to line up for “hot lunch” every day.
The four-day Kitchen Collaborative will begin with a “kid food favorites” taste tour where the team will be visiting local places where kids love to eat, providing inspiration for the week. Day two will feature a classroom-style Q&A session with the chefs, culinary arts and marketing students, and the Charleston County School District food service team to gain insights on the current trends and flavors students are craving. Day three will be focused on recipe creation. Schwan’s Company foods will serve as the base for these innovative creations, including Big Daddy’s™ Primo Scratch Ready Pizza and MINH® Asian-style foods such as egg rolls, sauces and whole grain fried rice. On the last day, Schwan’s Chef Collective members will serve the new recipes to students for their feedback in a taste test.
Schwan’s Food Service Inc., a subsidiary of Schwan’s Company, is a leading food provider in K-12 schools and has been committed to helping school food-service professionals with delicious menu options for more than 40 years. Since 2016, Schwan’s has inspired culinary creativity in the K-12 space through Kitchen Collaborative events led by Schwan’s Chef Collective. Previous events were held in Wayzata, Minn. (2016); Albuquerque, N.M. (2017); and Houston, Texas (2018).
www.schwanscompany.com/schwans-chef-collective