Salad Bar Project: Frequently Asked Questions

What is The Salad Bar Project?

A vision for bringing healthier food to school kids across America. Whole Foods Market is partnering with Chef Ann Cooper to provide healthy salad bars to schools across the country. We are jumpstarting the movement by raising money for a salad bar in at least one school in the communities surrounding each of our stores in the U.S. That's almost 300 schools!

Is this related to what Whole Foods Market did last year?

Yes, last year (2009), we partnered with Chef Ann Cooper to raise awareness about the need to improve school lunch both nutritionally and by incorporating more fresh, real food. We are teaming up with Chef Ann, the Renegade Lunch Lady, again this year to partner on The Salad Bar Project. Chef Ann's nonprofit group, Food Family Farming Foundation (F3), will collect and review grant applications submitted by schools and award salad bars to schools based on their grant application as well as their school's commitment to the ongoing support and sustainability of that salad bar. Whole Foods Market is the first company to partner with Chef Ann and her foundation on The Salad Bar Project.

Where did the money Whole Foods Market raised last year go?

The funds raised last year were used to build out a FREE online toolkit for schools anywhere to use to revolutionize and improve their school lunch programs. The Lunch Box provides:

• More than 120 school-tested, nutritionally-sound, fully scalable recipes for both elementary and secondary students
• Menu school calendars, customizable to each district's needs
• Training videos for school lunch service providers
• Budget and inventory templates for purchasing their supplies as well as financial planning models
• Educator and parent marketing materials
• Resource section so activists can access the latest information to help them make real change happen
• A social community accessible to educators (school faculty are prohibited from accessing social networking sites at school, so The Lunch Box provides an approved open forum)

Why raise money for salad bars in schools?

Whole Foods Market is committed to healthy eating, and we continue to raise the bar on our commitment to helping change the kind of foods served in school cafeterias. We realize that one of the single most impactful and sustainable ways to make immediate changes to school lunches is to implement healthy salad bars with fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and healthy proteins. Operationally and logistically, this fits into the current model of school lunch finance by replacing the vegetable portion of the school lunch meal. Rather than being served the typical vegetable — French fries or tater tots — students make a trip to the salad bar where they find fresh fruits and vegetables.

How much is a salad bar?

A salad bar costs about $2500. This includes the actual salad bar — a 5-well Cambro, NSF-approved unit with all of the insert pans, cutting boards and utensils — as well as covers the shipping costs. The more your local store raises, the more salad bars will go into your local schools — for every $2500 raised, one more school gets a salad bar.

Will Whole Foods Market provide the food that goes on the salad bar?

No. Whole Foods Market's fundraising will underwrite the cost of the salad bar equipment. The school district will continue to work through their normal buying channels for procuring food. Through our fundraising efforts last year, though, The Lunch Box website provides great free educational tools for schools to use for continued support and guidance on maintaining the salad bar and keeping it a sustainable part of the school lunchroom.

How can I donate?

Either in our stores or online. We will have donation coupons at the register for $1 and $5 donations to add to your total as well as a "round up" option so you can easily donate your change. Or visit The Salad Bar Project to donate online to your local store's fundraising efforts or to the cause in general. You can also make sure other interested parents and friends are aware of The Salad Bar Project through the online sharing tools.

How do we decide which schools gets a salad bar?

The salad bars will be donated to schools through a formal grant process. School administrators will need to apply online and be chosen for the salad bar grant by Chef Ann's F3 Foundation. The grant money, raised by customer donations, will be used to buy the actual salad bar as well as necessary equipment to go with it such as pans, cutting boards, utensils and knives.

Where do schools get a grant application?

The grant application process will be handled online by Chef Ann's F3 organization at The Salad Bar Project. F3 will be accepting grant applications from September 1st through November 15th. Just go to The Salad Bar Project's application page to apply online.

Why do a formal grant process?

In order to ensure that the support structure is in place to make the Salad Bar Project a success in each school, the grant process involves getting buy-in from the school principal, district superintendent and nutrition director. It's not a complicated grant, but we do want to make sure we don't give a salad bar to a school that won't use and successfully sustain it.

Who can initiate a grant application?

Any parent, teacher, food service worker or other concerned person can make sure that eligible schools are aware of The Salad Bar Project. In fact, we know that parents and teachers are often the drivers of making great new things like this happen for their schools. That said, the actual grant must be completed online by a school administrator.

What types of schools are eligible to apply?

Public schools — elementary schools, middle schools, or high schools — within a 50-mile radius of a Whole Foods Market store are eligible to apply for a Salad Bar Project grant.

When will the schools learn if they will get a salad bar and when will they receive their salad bar kit?

It will take some time to go through the grant review process. We will work with Chef Ann's F3 foundation to announce the schools receiving salad bars in January, with the hopes of getting the salad bars in the schools for the second half of the 2010/2011 school year.

Why is school food so important?

More than 30 million children rely on the National School Lunch Program every school day. For many of these kids, school lunch is their only complete meal of the day. Also, lifestyle and diet related health problems are on the rise among children:

• At least 1/3 of children are overweight
• Childhood obesity has more than doubled in the last 20 years
• The CDC estimates that 1 in 3 children will develop diabetes