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Lancaster ISD approves 2025-26 food-service management contract valued at about $4.58 million
Summary
The Lancaster ISD Board awarded the 2025-26 FSMC contract to Southwest Food Service (SFE) after a student-involved evaluation and tasting process; trustees approved the contract unanimously.
The Lancaster ISD Board of Trustees approved a five-year, annually renewable food-service management contract for 2025-26 with the vendor selected by the district evaluation committee after student taste tests and presentations.
Dr. Kimbrough, director leading the child-nutrition rebid, told the board that the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) required the district to rebid its FSMC contract because of increased revenues. The district solicited proposals, hosted vendor presentations that included student tasters, and applied the TDA evaluation rubric. After scoring, the committee recommended Southwest Food Service (SFE) as the vendor.
The board approved the contract; the director told trustees the contract value calculated from proposed rates and historic meal counts is $4,581,957.16. The award is a fixed-rate, five-year contract that is renewable annually; district staff emphasized the board and administration retain the right to terminate poor performance on an annual basis.
SFE's regional director told the board the company is "excited to get started immediately" and thanked trustees for including students on the evaluation process. Dr. Kimbrough said the vendor will begin coordination with district staff to prepare for summer and the coming school year.
Board members expressed particular interest in the role student feedback played in the selection. The contract approval was adopted by a unanimous vote.
The board did not publish the vendor's full contract in open session; the director provided rate tables, the committee's rubric-based scores and described TDA compliance requirements as part of the public presentation. Staff said the district will finalize implementation details with the vendor and report back on staffing and menu rollout as required by policy and TDA rules.
