In 2003, when Justin, Keith and Ryan took over Choicelunch, we used the typical catering cambros you see chefs lugging on Food TV. Picture those outdoor timed tests where Padma from Top Chef is watching glamorously from the sidelines as the cooks are trying to plate 1000 appetizers in a corn field. Those plastic containers are about as low tech as you can get. They insulate pretty well, but there is no motor, no plug or heat source, and basically you want food out of those “warmers” as quickly as possible.
Jump forward a couple of years and we realized the only way to deliver “fresh from the oven” taste was to deliver an actual oven each day to your kids at school. We invested thousands of dollars for each oven we use to deliver our meals to your kids so they are piping hot and the quality is Top Chef worthy. But, since we need large trucks to deliver these large rolling ovens, there has always been a time that the oven is not plugged in once it leaves our kitchen and is on the road. We plug those ovens in immediately at the school, but for a little while, the food slowly cools, releasing moisture and heat. “Fresh from the oven” even with these expensive ovens, wasn’t great enough for us.
This past Holiday break we did something to transform your kids’ lunch experience. We decided to buy and install generators for our trucks. With two years of research behind us, we found generators=greatness. Generators will allow us to keep ovens plugged in, even when they are en route to your school, stuck in traffic, or crossing a bridge.
As Justin, our CEO explained, “We made the decision to invest $250K+ this year outfitting all of our vehicles with on-board power. This will allow our drivers to plug-in our transport cabinets (ovens) throughout the entirety of the delivery, ensuring the food maintains a consistent temperature of 140 degrees throughout. Our Executive Chef, Chrissy, contends that this is the single most important change we can make to optimize food quality, and we are responding accordingly.”
I guess the point is that we are always trying to perfect our program. We are human, food is living and kids’ have different preferences and tastes. But at the core of who we are, we do whatever it takes to ensure that the quality of our food exceeds your expectations. We are trying to generate greatness and will keep looking for innovative ways to push the bar higher.
