School district to launch food court pilot program in January
The School District of Lee County’s Food & Nutrition Services is launching a pilot program this January at a high school as a continuation of enhancing students overall experience and options.
Food & Nutrition Services Coordinator of Recruitment and Operations Tonia Cassin said the district is modernizing its menu design for this upcoming school year with cleaner labels and higher student satisfaction standards. They are expanding fresh-food offerings and semi-scratch recipes into their daily prep schedules.
New recipes include Korean noodle bowl, chicken alfredo pasta and walking tacos for elementary schools and chicken parmesan, Korean noodle bowl, beef enchiladas, Dragon’s breath sub, General Tso’s chicken and Korean beef and vegetable dumplings for secondary schools.
A pilot program will kick off at Riverdale High School with a food court six-option concept.
Concepts include:
• Casa Fresca – build your bowl your way
• Al Forno – pizza, pasta, made fresh
• Wok this Way – bold flavor, made your way
• The Ranch – classic comfort, done right
• Flavor – sip, mix, repeat
• Daylee Fresh – fresh every day.
The pilot program is moving away from the old cafeteria model to a collegiate-style food court concept.
“It’s about creating and engaging dining experiences to encourage students to choose nutritional meals,” Cassin said.
In addition, it’s about increasing participation to increase the revenue to expand the concept to other high schools.
She said students have freedom to build their own customizable dining experience.
For example, students will have the opportunity to choose their base, protein and vegetables at the Casa Fresca and Wok this Way station, while choosing an entrée, vegetable, toppings and condiments at The Ranch.
The Daylee Fresh provides house-made salads, subs hot and cold, yogurt parfaits with house-made granola and protein boxes, as well as an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables. The Al Forno offers oven baked cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza, chicken alfredo, baked ziti, Bosco cheese sticks, and a side salad.
The Flavor provides a café concept – a trendy beverage counter with tea, lemonade, and coffee with flavored syrups, all at an additional cost.
All the stations would be manned by staff.
“We are continuing to work on all the pricing right now. This is what the first semester is – narrowing it down and getting our marketing campaign together to have that information available for students and parents,” Food and Nutrition Services Director Kandace Messenger said.
School board member Jada Langford-Fleming said the concept is forward thinking and a great way to prepare students for the future.
“I think this is great,” Board member Vanessa Chaviano said. “This is going to be great and well received.”
Chief Operations Officer Donald Neese said they are not technically serving more food, just a larger variety of food. He said the food is coming from the same vendor.
During the Tuesday presentation, the school board also heard how many students received meals during the school year, and summer.
Cassin said they oversee 88 facilities – 82 kitchens, five charter schools, and one specialized learning center. The network is driven by 837 food service professionals who manage strict safety guidelines.
“All students receive high-quality nutrition at zero cost to families – completely removing economic barriers for learning,” she said.
The district is part of the Community Eligibility Program that serves meals to students under the National School Lunch/National School Breakfast Programs for the upcoming school year. The district is part of the program again for the upcoming school year, enabling every student at the district’s 83 traditional schools, five special centers and four charter school locations are served breakfast and lunch at no charge.
There were 10,836,413 lunches served during the 2026 school year, a 2% increase over the previous year and $979,127 in a la carte sales, a 13% increase over the previous year.
The district continues to expand its school gardens with two new ones built at Gateway High School and Bonita Springs High School. They produced 27,500 pounds of garden produce that were served in school cafeterias serving more than 4,125 school garden salads.
There are 17 active school gardens that support school-based garden initiatives.
Cassin said they are also sustaining a healthy operational margin with the average plate revenue of $4.34. The average cost plate is $4.12, which includes food, labor, supplies, and equipment.
For breakfast, there were 4,991,892 meals served with an average reimbursement of $2.71, and lunch had 10,836,413 meals served with an average reimbursement of $4.34. There were 103,976 snacks served for an average reimbursement of $1.26 and 713,150 suppers served for a reimbursement of $4.91.
The school district also offers a “year-round safety net” of “strong food assembly” even when the schools are closed, she said.
As of June 2026, 103,252 breakfasts were served, 117,218 lunches and 11,656 seven-day meal kits served.
Cassin said there was a 75% increase from June 2025 with the summer meals.
She said the summer delivery framework provides full, county-wide access at more than 100 summer feeding sites across Lee County. The program is made possible through the No Kid Hungry grant and USDA programs.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com