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Aramark outlines all-day café and student-run IH Blends at Indian Hill High School
Summary
Aramark presented an annual nutrition and operations update to the Indian Hill board, saying menus meet USDA guidelines and announcing a high-school all-day café, credit/debit readers, and a student-run smoothie shop called IH Blends launching next year.
Adam Loop, the food-service director for Aramark, told the Indian Hill Exempted Village School District board that the districtmenus comply with USDA and National School Lunch Program nutritional guidelines and described plans to expand on-campus food access.
Loop said the high school will shift from serving only a lunch period to an "all-day café" open roughly 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., offering healthy snacks and quick-service options to students and staff. "We're going to be offering healthy, nutritious snacks to help fuel Indian Hill students throughout their day," he said.
The Aramark director also described a student-run enterprise, IH Blends, which will operate as a smoothie bar starting next school year, initially from 7:30 to 8 a.m. and during lunch. "IH Blends is going to be a fully self-sustaining small business within Indian High School," Loop said, adding that Aramark's role will be mentorship and limited start-up support.
Loop said Aramark uses annual student and family surveys to inform menu choices and tracks nutritional components with menu-creation software. He noted a planned installation of credit and debit card readers at the high school to allow immediate purchases and avoid the delays parents sometimes face when loading accounts.
Board members thanked Loop and Aramark for mentoring students through programs such as the Big Pitch and for operational support during emergencies. A board member recounted an evacuation after a false bomb threat when Aramark staff fed several hundred students; the board praised staff for their rapid response.
The board discussed — and referred to the operations committee — a separate, future decision about whether the district should remain in the National School Lunch Program, which would affect the scope and timing of any RFP for food-service contracts. Dr. Stewart said the district would consider the question during the operations committee process and that an RFP timeline would likely be driven by a March deadline tied to the elementary/primary program.
The presentation closed with the board expressing appreciation for Aramark's student-focused programming and the districtAramark partnership.
