iBites Podcast – Institute of Child Nutrition

Shannon FitzGerald interviews Hannah Carroll, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist who leads food services for a K–6 district of roughly 4,000 students in Santa Barbara County. Hannah describes a centralized production model — a full scratch-cooking central kitchen supplying nine sites through mobile serving lines — that has driven lunch participation to around 75% and breakfast participation above 50%, largely by adding Second Chance Breakfast. The conversation centers on three strengths of Hannah’s program: student-driven menu planning (including a 4th-grade student advisory council called SNACS), strategic use of USDA Foods as base ingredients to offset the cost of higher-quality local items, and a staff culture built on trust, hands-on presence, and culinary pride. She emphasizes that scratch cooking transitions succeed when directors build relationships first, start with familiar and manageable recipes, and work side by side with staff rather than directing from the office. Hannah also shares practical approaches to food waste reduction — daily lunch counts from classrooms feeding directly into production adjustments — and a creative solution of batch-freezing excess scratch-cooked food during the school year for use in summer programs. The episode closes with rapid-fire highlights, including her stress-relief strategy of gifting staff a “dishwashing day” redeemable by her, and her consistent message to new professionals: return to your why.

What does it really take to move a school meal program from freezer-to-oven to scratch-cooked? In this episode of iBites, host Shannon FitzGerald, PhD, RDN sits down with Jeanne Reilly, School Nutrition Director for RSU 14 in Windham and Raymond, Maine, for an honest, inspiring conversation about scratch cooking from the ground up.
Jeanne shares how a community visioning grant sparked the idea of hiring a permanent district chef — a role that’s been transforming her program for 12 years — and how she built staff buy-in, sought culinary training, and navigated the very real challenges of making real food work at volume for 3,300 students across six schools.
Her advice for anyone wanting to start? Baby steps. One recipe, one success at a time. Her definition of scratch cooking for students? “Delicious, real school food fuels students for learning.”

In this episode of iBites, host Shannon FitzGerald sits down with Maria Patiño, a school nutrition manager with 17 years of experience at Manor ISD — a fast-growing district just outside Austin, Texas. Maria shares how she went from walking into the district office unannounced with a 9-month-old in tow to becoming the district’s go-to manager for catering and summer feeding operations.

Meet Rhiannon Mejia, a Child Nutrition Supervisor in Texas who oversees 10 schools including elementary, middle, and high schools with innovative bistro concepts. Rhiannon shares her inspiring journey from restaurant management to school nutrition, motivated by her own childhood experiences and desire to ensure every child has access to meals. She discusses her leadership approach grounded in empathy, open communication, and patience—lessons learned from an impactful mentor. Rhiannon also highlights her district’s successful Manager-in-Training (MIT) program that identifies and develops rising leaders, including how her colleague Lisa (featured in a companion episode) trained her and continues to train new managers today.

Lisa Strine is a Child Nutrition Manager in Fort Worth, Texas, who brings retail training expertise and 18 years of school nutrition experience to her role—where she serves 780 meals daily and maintains an impressive student participation rate. As her district’s in-house trainer and compliance expert, Lisa prepares new managers for success through hands-on MIT (Manager in Training) camps while ensuring her own team stays audit-ready and confident. In this episode, Lisa shares her journey from retail management to school nutrition passion, reveals why production records are her “kitchen Bible,” and offers candid advice on navigating administrative reviews, batch cooking operations, and the inevitable equipment failures. Her leadership philosophy? Train your staff so well they could take over your job, take one deep breath when stress hits, and never forget that you can’t do this work alone.

This podcast episode is about the real work of school nutrition leadership. In this episode, we explore how a kitchen manager builds strong teams, engages students, and creates menu programs that balance nutrition standards with student appeal. Practical strategies are shared for staff development and motivation, creative approaches to menu marketing and student engagement, and proven methods for increasing meal participation. From career inspiration to day-to-day leadership challenges, this conversation offers valuable insights.