The chef has worked with many of our staff already and is in the buildings and hitting the ground running and doing some limited time offers and demos and things like that. I think from the union perspective, we just needed to be really careful that it didn’t conflict with the contract and that’s our main priority.”

Director of Business Jen Seubert

The Hastings School District is taking its meals to the next level with the hiring of a chef service to help oversee the meals and offering presented to students.

The ISD #200 Board unanimously approved a contract totaling $125,000 annually for chef services with Taher, Inc., based in Minnetonka.

The onsite Taher chef will report to the district’s food service director and “provide leadership for menu planning, recipes, grocery specifications and procurement,” according to the contract signed with the firm. “The chef will report to the district’s food service director and will be trained and coached by Taher’s Corporate Chefs. The chef will have access to Taher’s proprietary recipes and will work with Taher’s Corporate Registered Dietician to monitor all menu item and recipes for full compliance to USDA requirements.”

Director of Business Jen Seubert told the board that Taher currently is working in the Hastings kitchens and is looking to hire a full-time chef, exclusive to Hastings schools.

“This is something that we have been working on for quite some time, and we have had discussion on that at work sessions and board meetings about this,” she said. “Taher is currently working to hire a full-time chef for the district. Until that happens, you can see we would be paying at 75 percent of the agreed upon monthly amount. They currently are providing the services, it’s just not a full-time chef. They have a chef that’s been in our buildings and helping our staff with recipes and menu planning, food and ingredients, things like that.”

Seubert asked how the chef position fits in with the district’s food service union.

“The chef does not take any union work away. It’s a separate agreement,” she said. “It doesn’t necessarily affect the union work. We have talked to the union about it,” Seubert said. “The chef has worked with many of our staff already and is in the buildings and hitting the ground running and doing some limited time offers and demos and things like that. I think from the union perspective, we just needed to be really careful that it didn’t conflict with the contract and that’s our main priority.”

Superintendent Dr. Tamara Champa said the purpose of the chef is to “elevate the food service opportunities” for district students.

“I think a great example is our upcoming Indigenous People’s Day. The request of the chef was could you provide a tasting that would be appropriate. They’re now working with one of our parents to be able to provide that so that will be something that we do throughout that week. I think that’s a perfect example of what we were hoping to be able to do.”

Board member Jessica Dressley spoke in favor.

“I was at the high school open house and took a look at the food options, and they look great,” she said. “There’s a lot of options there for high schoolers.”