Petaluma food services outlines farm-to-school push, salad-bar expansion and certification goal after serving nearly 1 million meals

The Petaluma City Schools Board of Education received a detailed update on the district's school meal program from Brian Dufour, the district's food service director, who said the department served "a little over 988,000 meals" over the last school year and is continuing California's universal school meal program.

Dufour told trustees the program's work spans operations, procurement and student engagement, and that the district is pursuing multiple changes to increase fresh, local food and reduce environmental impacts. "We're at a little over 988,000 meals served, over the course [of the] last school year," Dufour said.

The presentation outlined four near-term priorities: expanding student agency in menu and service decisions, increasing self-serve salad bars at secondary sites (salad bars are already running four days a week at elementary schools), formalizing procurement and compliance, and completing an administrative review year. Dufour said salad bars have been piloted and are in elementary sites; secondaries are planned but not yet installed.

Dufour summarized procurement work and a new farm-to-school request for proposals (RFP). "We released a farm to school RFP," he said, and staff built evaluation criteria that prioritize local and socially disadvantaged growers. The RFP is structured around California-grown produce and uses a 150-mile definition of "local" for scoring and feasibility. Dufour said the district already orders produce from Feed Sonoma, a farmer-owned cooperative that aggregates product from about 50 farms and is based in Petaluma.

The food services director described investments in the central warehouse, including a new freezer and refrigerator and equipment for fresh-produce processing, which he said will let the district buy fresher, less-processed items. He also said the district has shifted menu choices (for example, removing chocolate milk from the elementary menu) and is aligning procurement with sustainability goals.

Dufour described the district's work with Eat Real, a national organization that assesses school food programs. He reported an initial assessment score of 57 on the national Eat Real rubric; the certification threshold he cited is 60. "We got a 57 on our initial assessment," Dufour said, adding that staff expect an updated report card in October and are aiming to reach certification by the end of the school year.

He also told the board the U.S. Department of Agriculture notified the district this month of recognition for the district's snack program under a nutrition-education/innovation award.

Trustees and other meeting participants asked about student input and how to scale student voice into operational decisions. Dufour said the district surveyed students (about 1,600 responses) and plans to expand student-led committees and partnerships with career and technical education (CTE) programs, though he said the secondary model for regular student participation is still being developed. He described elementary-level "Happy Healthy Club" pilot work as an example of how students could have regular input.

On sourcing, Dufour said the RFP requires California-grown produce, and the technical scoring considers distance (150 miles), minority- and socially-disadvantaged-farmer status, and hub/distribution capacity. He said the RFP contains a "piggyback" clause other Sonoma County districts can use.

Dufour said some operational goals remain incomplete: adding salad bars to secondary schools, expanding student decision-making structures, and improving edible food diversion so food that is still edible does not go to compost. He said staff continue to update the district's local school wellness policy and to codify operations as part of the administrative review year (the first such review since 2019).

The board heard questions about the timeline for Eat Real certification and the balance between environmental goals and cost. Dufour said the program is close to certification, will receive an updated Eat Real report card in October, and has a goal of certifying by the end of the school year. He also noted the district's work with CAPS interns to baseline single-use plastics and with community groups on food-waste reduction.

The presentation emphasized that California's universal meal policy continues for the year and that the program must manage daily volumes and menu choices to match student tastes and attendance.

Dufour concluded by asking for board support for continued operational investment and student engagement as the district implements procurement and certification steps.

Why it matters: The food program serves most students daily and directly affects nutrition, local purchasing, staff workload and district procurement dollars. The RFP and Eat Real work could shift local farm revenue and change cafeteria offerings across the district.