Last September, the students at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School in Grand Rapids became the beneficiaries of a pilot hot lunch program. With fresh milk from
MOO-ville Creamery and all-natural chicken drumsticks from
Otto's Chicken, what's not to like?
While most people grab a quick burger or slice of pizza during lunchtime, Christopher Mier is busy changing his corner of the world. Mier has a lofty goal: He wants to change the way kids and their families think of food. Specifically, he wants to change the way school lunch is served.
Ambitious? Yes. Imperative? Absolutely. And it could possibly make you feel better about paying your federal income tax.
"Current school lunch programs teach children that fried food is okay," Mier says. "Taxpayers are providing these meals, which are subsidized by the federal government. So, people are paying kids to eat non-nutritious food."
Because kids consume anywhere from a third to half of their calories while at school, Mier says that the connection between traditional school lunch programs and the high rate of childhood obesity cannot be denied. Nor can the fact that one in three Caucasian children and one in two African American and Hispanic children will develop insulin-dependent diabetes because of poor diet.
According to
USA Today, about 25 million kids are obese or overweight and at a greater risk of developing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, kidney failure, cancer, and other health problems. A study published in 2005 in The New England Journal of Medicine found that the current generation of kids could be the first in 200 years to lead shorter lives than their parents -- because of obesity.
Disturbed by these unsavory statistics, Mier, 25, teamed up with his mother, Michelle Mier, 53, and put a creative, healthy spin on the family's existing catering and school lunch business to create
Haute Lunch.
"I basically revamped my mom's program," Mier says. "We didn't want to overreach during our pilot year serving locally sourced, healthy lunches. We want to see what works and what doesn't."
He may have learned that in his Entrepreneurial Quest class with Professor Paul Lane, yet Mier, who graduated from Grand Valley State University with a degree in history, gives credit to history professor Craig Benjamin for encouraging the venture.
"The class in entrepreneurship inspired me, and my history prof. told me to do what was best for me and the world," explains Mier. "He said that the important thing was to make a difference, not necessarily with a history degree, but whatever I thought was right."
Now, Mier is learning more than he expected about being an entrepreneur.
"It's a balancing act, providing healthy lunches made from responsible sources at a cost that allows us to make a small profit," he says.
MOO-ville Creamery in Nashville, Mich. and Otto's Chicken in Middleville, Mich. are just two of the local vendors from which Haute Lunch obtains fresh ingredients for the meals the Miers make each day for the kids at St. Thomas.
Visser Farms in Zeeland provides produce such as Yukon gold potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli and garlic. Dried cherries are sourced from Traverse City.
Mier says that a large part of providing healthy lunches is getting the food as responsibly as possible. That means getting chicken and beef from farms that treat their animals well. For example, the chickens at Otto's Chicken have access to fresh, natural food and are antibiotic- and hormone-free. They are not confined to cages, but can roam freely.
Kids pay $2.40 for lunch and a salad bar. Milk is included in the price and is served in reusable cups. Trays are reusable, too, and Mier says that recycling and reusing has drastically cut down the amount of trash from four bags daily to a bag and a half. Mier would like to utilize composting down the line.
Because Haute Lunch is a federal lunch program, the Miers get their recipes from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), a book comprised of hundreds of recipes, to which they add their own fresh ingredients. The Miers make meals from scratch everyday including all their own sauces, dressings, yogurt, pasta salad and chicken Caesar salads.
"We get what vegetables we can locally and complement that with food subsidies from the government," explains Mier. "There are challenges. The food provided by the government, especially meats, are processed and of low quality. But we are required to use subsidized commodities."
Until now, government oversight consisted of sending in a sample menu each year. That may soon change as a result of a new rule proposed by the government, and recently released by the USDA, that will raise the nutrition standards for school meals for the first time in 15 years. The rule calls for huge changes, including limiting French fries, sodium and calories while offering students more fruits and vegetables -- all things that Haute Lunch is already doing.
Implementing the new meal standards is part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 signed into law by President Obama on Dec. 13. Currently, schools receive $2.72 from the federal government for every child who is on the free lunch program. Schools that meet the new standards will get another 6 cents per meal. So, Haute Lunch can look forward to getting a raise.
Mier says that Haute Lunch has a lot of support from the school principal and teachers. Most parents are on board, as well. Sure, kids can be finicky, but the real surprise is that some of the parents seem to be finicky, too.
"We try to make meals that kids will like, such as shepherd's pie, healthy pizza and chili-based nachos, but some parents send their kids to school with 'Lunchables' instant meals," Mier says. "Still, we can tell that the homemade food we're serving is making a difference in terms of nutrition education and health."
Although some of the teachers report that students seem more alert after lunch, it is too early to give all the credit to the Haute Lunch program.
If all goes well with the pilot program at St. Thomas, Mier wants to take Haute Lunch to the next level and expand the program to other schools.
"I want to make this program easy to replicate," Mier says.
Programs similar to Haute Lunch have taken root in day cares, schools, colleges, hospitals, and other institutions across the U.S.
Victoria Mullen is (in alphabetical order) an actress, artist, attorney,
photographer, and writer based in Grand Rapids. She is originally from
Milwaukee, Wis. Photos:
Christopher Mier in the kitchen at St.Thomas the Apostle School (2)
Christopher Mier and his mother Michelle Mier
Pizza featuring home made dough
The salad bar is available daily
Principal Suzi Furtwangler talks with a student
Students at St. Thomas the Apostle School
Christopher Mier and oven roasted potatoes
Photographs by Brian Kelly - All Rights Reserved