SPRINGFIELD – The Springfield school district’s new Culinary and Nutrition Center promises not only to improve the equality of school means, but also to expand the Breakfast in the Classroom program, local purchases for additional “Food to Schools” meals and training of students interested in culinary arts.

Elected officials gather at the facility on Cadwell Drive on Dec. 13 for an interior “groundbreaking” in the formal liquor warehouse. The new center is expected to be completed in December 2018.

The renovations of the 62,000 square feet structure will cost $21 million and will include a production and catering kitchen, a produce cutting and processing room for fresh fruit sand vegetables, a bakery, a training and test kitchen, cold and dry food storage and culinary training for high school students.  

The center is expected to increase the number of meals served, create 40 new jobs, and reduce costs to the district.

Superintendent Daniel Warwick said the new center would be the only one of its kind in the nation. The Springfield district is the second largest in the states and serves 43,000 meals daily.

Mark Jeffrey, the Sodexo district manager serving Springfield Public Schools, said the new center would provide “a new innovative food service program.” He added the facility would allow Sodexo to incorporate more “scratch cooking” into the school meals.

There will examples on display of how the new center would affect the menu. Instead of wrapped muffins for breakfast that would be purchased, the center would allow freshly baked whole grain muffins to be served. Fresh cut local fruit would replace canned fruit and the Breakfast in the Classroom could feature bagel breakfast sandwiches.

Elizabeth Wills-Ogilvie, chair of the Springfield Food Policy Council, stressed the importance of addressing hunger in the schools to improve student performance.