Community Roots says school food overhaul now serves 5,200 meals a day across Western Nevada County

Representatives from Community Roots updated the council on their first year running consolidated school food services for Western Nevada County school districts. Frances de Cristina, community engagement specialist, and Sam Conifclat, executive director, outlined program accomplishments and future plans.

Community Roots said it has installed salad bars at 17 school sites, hired 67 employees and is serving roughly 5,200 breakfasts and lunches per day from four production kitchens and a leased central kitchen in Grass Valley. Conifclat described the move away from overwrapped, prepackaged meals toward scratch cooking and local procurement and said the consolidation has allowed the program to hire prior food-service workers, keep experienced staff, and increase participation.

The organization said it is pursuing a culinary center at the former TeleStream building in Nevada City, under a lease that staff described as favorable (a nominal $1-per-year lease with tenant-improvement responsibilities). The culinary center would centralize scratch cooking, reduce procurement costs over time and offer community classes and an incubator kitchen space for cottage cooks and small food businesses.

Council members praised the program’s progress and asked about costs and procurement; Community Roots said full fiscal comparisons are limited because they have not yet completed a full year of operations but expressed optimism about operational efficiencies and local economic benefits to farmers and suppliers.