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May 2017
School Foodservice Operator of the Month: Dan Gorman
Title: Food Service Director
District: Montague Area Public Schools, Whitehall District Schools
Number of students served: 2,200 lunches and 1,600 breakfasts each day between two districts
Favorite Potato Hack: Farm-to-School Spuds
Dan Gorman is widely regarded as the Farm-to-School leader in Michigan and is a big proponent of sourcing his school’s potatoes from local farms.
“Michigan potatoes are available year-round and are a great nutritional balance to a school meal. Once we found a supply of Michigan potatoes, our next challenge was to find a way to process the potatoes.”
To process the Michigan potatoes, Gorman teamed up with Elissa Penczar, Catering & Culinary Management Instructor at Muskegon Area Career Tech Center. Elissa and her students prep the potatoes and help develop seasoning recipes for Gorman’s kitchen staff, which are then taste-tested by the Montague and Whitehall K-12 students.
Dan receives Farm to School support from the districts’ Farm-to-School coordinator, Lynn DeVlieg, Michigan State University Extension’s Community Food Systems initiative, and a Farm-to-School Planning grant through USDA.
Hot lunch featuring roasted Michigan Potatoes
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