Serving breakfast and lunch in schools isn’t as easy as it used to be. When schools need foodservice products to flex to their needs, they turn to Cambro. For Beth Morris, School Nutrition Director at Lynchburg City Schools in Lynchburg, VA, two products were at the top of her list: the Pro Cart Ultra® and the Camshelving Premium Series® Flex Station.

The Pro Cart Ultra

“The Pro Carts were very instrumental in our being able to provide meals at temperatures that were keeping hot food hot and cold food cold. A wonderful addition to our serving throughout the building,” said Morris.

The Pro Cart Ultra is designed to hold both hot and cold food all in one unit. Constructed with thick CFC-free insulation, food temperature is safely maintained for at least four hours. To serve lunch at their high schools, foodservice professionals would load the Pro Cart Ultras in the cafeteria and station them in the hallways outside the classrooms.

“We depended more on the Pro Carts at lunch because they really can keep the temperature of a hot lunch. When we were looking to keep a hamburger hot or a slice of pizza hot, we were using the Pro Carts,” said Morris.

When serving their elementary students lunch in their classrooms, they were able to use the Pro Cart Ultras to distribute a variety of meals, sides and drinks.

“We knew how many hot meals we had to use and how many cold meals we had to use and that was the beauty of the Pro Cart, we could use the top half for those hot entrees and sides and the bottom to keep our milk cold and the cold entrees that were chosen; it could all be contained in one vessel,” said Morris.

The Flex Station

Morris was already armed with Flex Stations when the pandemic hit. She purchased units for their elementary schools two years ago when they ramped up their grab-n-go breakfast and alternative breakfast programs.

“The Flex Stations became very much the rock for our service model. We were using them for our grab-n-go breakfast in the morning as the kids took their meals in the classroom and we used them at curbside to hold all of the bags,” said Morris.

Because the Flex Stations have wheels, they were able to roll them anywhere throughout the buildings, into elevators and out to the curb.

“The mobility of [the Flex Station], it’s not heavy and it’s really not bulky, it’s easy for one cafeteria employee to move that. You don’t need to be Hercules to move the Flex Station throughout the building. We did need to put them on elevators; they fit on the elevator to take up to various levels in some of our buildings,” said Morris.

Another point of flexibility is the items you can transport inside of it. Using shallow pans, Morris is able to use Camchillers to keep milk cold. Using deep pans, she’s able to hold bags for their bulk meal service.

“They were really an all-purpose, universal means of meeting our students wherever they were and wherever we were able to serve them,” said Morris.

Now, all of their middle and high schools that didn’t previously have grab-n-go from points outside of the cafeteria will be served breakfast with Flex Stations at strategic locations where kids are entering the building.

Contact your local Cambro sales rep to learn which products are best for your schools.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ADRIANA DESIDERIO IS THE DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER AT CAMBRO.