Bridgeport nutrition services details equipment upgrades, meal growth and new service tech

Guillermo Steele, food and nutrition services presenter (Bridgeport School District), told the Facilities Committee on March 5 that the district has undertaken equipment replacements, kitchen renovations and technology changes intended to improve meal quality, safety and operational efficiency.

Steele said the department is organized as “one department with five sub-departments working together to ensure all meals are served,” and described recent capital and operational changes including replacement packing equipment (installed December 2023), added QR codes on kitchen equipment tied to a facilities work-order system, and use of Titan software for inventory and menu planning. He said those changes support a goal of serving more consistent, higher-quality meals to students.

The presentation detailed several problems the department is addressing: refrigeration equipment at the nutrition center that dates to the 1970s and relies on a water-cooling tower, frequent exhaust failures at school kitchens, and broken packaging machinery that required purchasing prepackaged meals at higher cost before the new machine arrived. Steele said the new packaging equipment helps the district prepare larger volumes in-house; he described a production run “pumping the sauces for the 15 to 17,000 meals that we’re preparing daily.” He also said the district increased meals served by 148,000 in the second year after changes and that “as of January 2025, we’re already at over 2,000,000 meals.”

Steele listed renovations completed or in progress at Columbus School, Cesar Batalla, Central High School, Beardsley and others, and showed before-and-after images of serving lines and merchandisers intended to improve food presentation and speed of service. He described a “grab-and-go” configuration at Central High that he said can serve about 450 students in 20 minutes. Steele also said the district is piloting a touchless salad bar (identified in the presentation by vendor name as “Volrath Servue”) and plans additional units in high schools; he said the vending/serving machine cost approximately $40,000 and was procured under an existing equipment contract.

On sourcing and waste, Steele said the nutrition center does not produce food waste at the central level; school-level waste is tracked and staff are examining options for donation but cautioned about food safety and required waivers. Committee member Marissa Romero Jimenez suggested community partners could sign waivers to accept surplus food; Steele and other staff said they would investigate legal and safety constraints.

Steele described several non-capital initiatives: switching away from Styrofoam to compostable trays and bags (compostable containers were described as roughly 2.5 cents per unit versus about one cent for Styrofoam), implementing quarterly staff trainings and recognition programs, introducing digital signage and point-of-sale systems at elementary schools, and using Titan software to centralize purchasing and menu analytics. He said menu planning must follow federal/state meal-reimbursement rules (offer-versus-serve) and that sodium limits for school meals must be reduced by a state or federal deadline referenced in the presentation as June 2027; Steele said the department is using herbs and spices to offset flavor changes from lower sodium.

Committee members asked for more budget detail. Committee member Albert Benahan asked how the department’s budget has changed since the rebuilds; Steele said the department increased meals served, which helped balance the budget, and that some renovation funds stemmed from a prior $2,000,000 allocation that had been requested before his arrival. Steele said he would compile and send a per-school spending breakdown to the committee.

Other exchanges: - Committee members asked about after-school supper service; Steele said the district provided 235,570 suppers last year and was on track to exceed last year’s totals based on current counts. - On breakfast service, Steele said most breakfasts are delivered to classrooms, that “last chance” breakfast vending machines are being piloted for locations with high lateness, and that staff will survey parents and students about breakfast timing. - On composting and single-use purchases, Steele said the district achieved about 85% compostable service items on some lines and is using reusable tray machines in larger schools to offset per-item costs.

The Facilities Committee thanked Steele and the food services team; committee members asked for follow-up materials including a detailed budget breakdown and clarification about food-donation procedures. Steele said he would email the requested contract and budget details to committee members.