It all starts with great food, great service, and a great appreciation for the students and staff we serve.
At SFE, we fuel K-12 students to reach their highest potential through delicious, fresh-from-scratch meals and unmatched menu variety. We’re a culinary based foodservice management company exclusively dedicated to K-12 nutrition, and we believe in a world where kids are excited about eating in school.
SFE was founded in 2004 with the idea that school food can be done differently. Meals can be flavorful, on-trend and exciting for students while also being compliant with State and Federal guidelines.
Nearly 20 years later, we still believe in that philosophy and continue to innovate with the largest group of chefs and dietitians in the industry solely focused on creating great meals for students.
Our passion is providing students with the nourishment they need to reach their full potential—inside and outside the classroom. For us, it all starts with great food.
Making healthy food fun for every student has been at the core of SFE since the beginning. We know that for many kids, school food programs determine their nutritional intake for the day—and we believe every meal should be as appetizing as it is nourishing.
Our passion is providing students with the nourishment they need to reach their full potential—inside and outside the classroom. For us, it all starts with great food.
From the consistent menu feedback collected to the programs that support them, every decision we make is with student interest in mind. Some of the ways we gather feedback are:
We know that student tastes differ from district to district. That’s why we design menus that are diverse, creative, and appealing to the appetites we’re serving. Whether your kids are craving wholesome favorites or culturally ambitious entrees, our menus will take full inspiration from your students’ expressed tastes.
Our Taste Buddies program puts an engaging spin on the feedback process, empowering students with a personalized approach to providing input on menus. Where surveys gather fast data, Taste Buddies dives deeper into the mind and appetite of the student.
We partner with chefs from your community to help create a menu that is truly representative of your community’s culture. SFE’s Local Chef Series brings local restaurant chefs into the kitchen with SFE chefs to turn their restaurant-quality recipes into school lunch favorites.
From the cafeteria transformations to service models to the actual food itself—we’re constantly innovating and evolving our approach to satisfying the districts we serve.
For its innovative and comprehensive approach to promoting nutrition and culinary education, Future Foodies was named the winner of the 2023 FM Best Concept Award in the Best Wellness Concept category.
In our experience, we’ve found that service models and the cafeteria environments can have a profound impact on student participation. Here are some of the ways we’ve turned those opportunities into strengths.
Providing students with an alternative service model that reflects the world around them—allowing them to avoid cafeteria lines and order food on the fly.
We’ve found that older students have an appetite for more sophisticated service models—tailoring to their evolving interests while providing an opportunity for nourishment.
The value is in the name, as students increasingly gravitate toward “on-the-go" options for meals throughout their day.
Mobile carts can be utilized on an as-needed basis to help alleviate busier lunch rushes and students in a hurry.
With 51% of young Americans identifying as flexitarian, we’re ahead of the growing need for more plant-based options in schools. In leading this effort, SFE chefs have been busy developing new recipes to ensure students who are vegetarian, vegan or flexitarian have something delicious to eat every day. Offering plant-based options to students as a part of their menu not only encourages students to try new cuisines, it offers option and variety to students who already prefer or require a plant-based diet.
While quality food is the headline of our partnership, it’s the people behind the program that represent its heart and soul.
We believe in taking care of our people! Regardless of how the labor is modeled—SFE labor, district labor, hybrid or otherwise—they are treated as part of the SFE family. This includes access to industry-leading training, SFE’s recipe database, and our industry experts.
We look at training as an opportunity for learning and development that can help our frontline teams turn a job into a career. All frontline employees will participate in hands-on training led by SFE’s chefs and dieticians, as well as remote or self-led training on a monthly basis.
And we know that taking care of our team members outside of the cafeteria is important too, which is why SFE offers industry-standard benefits, including medical, dental, vision, 401k, employee assistance programs and additional benefits to those who qualify.
From self-operated districts to FSMCs, we have the expertise and experience to make your teams’ transition seamless. This includes an experienced transition team on hand from day one to map the process, assign KPIs and achievement dates, and schedule weekly transition calls to ensure your district is on track to open successfully.
SFE offers comparable benefits to all major school nutrition providers, including:
