Sterling, VA, Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cuisine Solutions is pleased to announce that Café + Teria will be implemented into three Virginia districts to launch the 2018-2019 school year. The fast-casual school lunch program will expand into Loudoun County and Alexandria City Schools. The pilot program for Café + Teria was introduced to high school students attending Arlington, Virginia’s three public high schools, Wakefield, Yorktown and Washington-Lee in 2017 after a brainstorming forum which was held with Cuisine Solutions and 10 of Virginia’s school districts and food management companies. Bill Stablein, Cuisine Solutions’ manager K-12 programs, spearheaded this effort sharing the feedback from the districts with Cuisine Solutions’ chefs, enabling the team to work together to create the menu especially for Café + Teria with an emphasis on local ingredients.
Due to the success of this fresh lunch experience, Arlington County is commencing their second year of Café + Teria on September 4 as the high schools reopen. New additions to the program in 2018 include the Italian bowl, featuring a basil vinaigrette and whole grain pasta.
Arlington County Director of Food and Nutrition Services Amy Maclosky notes, “Café Teria has allowed us to broaden our menu options responding to our students’ desire for more customized meals.”
On August 23, the new Academies of Loudoun in Leesburg, Virginia opened with a Café + Teria in the Ignition service area on the first floor of this over 300,000 square-foot facility which will serve 1,600 students. Loudoun County also has plans to expand in its district by rolling out Café + Teria in high schools this academic year.
“Working with a local, Loudoun-based company is great,” states Loudoun County Public School’s Nutrition Services Director Dr. Becky Domokos-Bays, “Cuisine Solutions has worked hard to understand the school nutrition business and has been a valuable partner in our work to bring fresher, speed scratch items into our schools. The Academies of Loudoun venue will offer students a variety of choices and the opportunity to build their own meals from different themes.”
Additionally, T.C. Williams High School, King Street Campus, will begin the school year on September 4 with Café + Teria offered daily. This healthy lunch offering, which mirrors a fast-casual restaurant appealing to young diners, will travel to various secondary schools in Alexandria City throughout the year. “The option of customization is exactly what our students have been requesting. Plus, contributing back to the local economy in the process is an added bonus!” states Alexandria City Public Schools Nutrition Coordinator Robyn Douglas.
At each Café +Teria, students select ingredients in four steps to build a nutritious meal by picking a base of grain, salad or a wrap; a protein: antibiotic-free chicken, ground beef, or Paneer cheese; a topping of vegetables, cheese and sauces, and a dressing. Every Café +Teria in the Virginia districts will have a serving line with bold graphics that invite exploration with a distinctive, modern look.
The concept for this innovative school lunch program is designed around using Cuisine Solutions’ proteins, exclusively. Café + Teria’s protein choices will all be prepared with the sous-vide method, which fully cooks and pasteurizes the food. Sous-vide is French for "under vacuum" which describes a cooking technique in which food is vacuum-sealed, then slow cooked in hot water. Cuisine Solutions, the world’s leading expert in sous-vide cooking, pioneered, perfected and popularized sous-vide, which allows for food to cook at a steady temperature to retain nutrients, flavors and moisture that are often lost during conventional cooking techniques.
Café + Teria will also provide students with additional allotted amounts of vegetables and will likely increase their consumption through this program. It also provides a more modern dining experience with several different international cuisine types including Mexican, Indian, Asian, Mediterranean and Caribbean to address menu fatigue. Parents will see Café + Teria as a consistent fresh dining option that their children will appreciate. Cuisine Solutions is also providing the school partners with the recipes, standard operating procedures, name brand and marketing materials to support the new program. Café + Teria resembles a franchise for schools, which can be replicated at any school district in the country.
Cuisine Solutions’ chefs and its Café + Teria team will continue to source product selections with recipe creations that will appeal to students and provide healthy, quality, delicious options with pleasing combinations, incorporating local produce from area farms for the toppings. The recipes are also low in sodium, fat and sugar. Additionally, dressing recipes and ingredient combinations for each type of cuisine were developed through The Culinary Research and Education Academy (CREA), the global leader in culinary research, education and consulting, and the sister company to Cuisine Solutions.
Photos here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ev7phel9hlhh58a/AADz7qOmK890vq-sL3qOlpvsa?dl=0
About Cuisine Solutions
The world’s leading manufacturer and distributor of sous-vide foods, Cuisine Solutions is recognized by top chefs as the authority on sous-vide—the innovative slow-cooking technique that the company pioneered, perfected and popularized decades ago. Cuisine Solutions’ culinary research and development team innovates new cooking techniques and recipes every day, anticipating clients’ needs and market trends while incorporating the finest ingredients. Computerized monitoring systems and precise cooking times and temperatures ensure that every dish is consistently excellent. Launched in 1989 and based in Sterling, Virginia, Cuisine Solutions services more than 22,000 restaurants, as well as airlines, cruise ships and major hotels. For more information, visit www.cuisinesolutions.com.
About CREA
The Culinary Research and Education Academy (CREA) is a global leader in culinary research, education and consulting. Founded in 1991 in France by Chief Scientist Dr. Bruno Goussault as Centre de Recherche et d’Études pour l’Alimentation, CREA aims to change the way chefs prepare food through rigorous training, food science innovation and food consulting. To date, CREA and Dr. Goussault have trained over 5,000 chefs around the world and over 80% of the world’s 3-Star Michelin chefs. Through its headquarters in Paris and Washington, D.C., CREA educates and consults professional chefs and top industry professionals alike through educational programs, global seminars, online video courses and customized engagements. For more information, visit http://www.lecrea.com.
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