The cheffed-up school lunch was served as part of the inaugural Brigaid Summit, a two-day symposium in the Bronx dedicated to food issues and advocacy. Earlier that day, the company’s affable founder, Dan Giusti, dissected the cost of each ingredient and explained why placing professional chefs in school kitchens helps them make the most out of their meager budgets. Every penny matters when the federal reimbursement rate for school lunches is only $4.62 per meal served, which must also cover labor costs, supplies and other operational expenses. In the United States, 30 million students from more than 100,000 schools participate in the National School Lunch Program, which serves almost 5bn meals annually. According to Brigaid, the average student consumes more than 2,000 school lunches from kindergarten through 12th grade.
这次厨师级别的学校午餐是作为 Brigaid 峰会的一部分提供的，这是在布朗克斯举行的一场为期两天的关于食品问题和倡导的研讨会。在那一天早些时候，该公司和蔼可亲的创始人丹·吉乌斯蒂分析了每种成分的成本，并解释了为什么在学校厨房配备专业厨师有助于他们最大限度地利用微薄的预算。当联邦午餐补贴率仅为每份午餐 4.62 美元时，每一分钱都很重要，这笔钱还需覆盖劳动力成本、供应品和其他运营费用。在美国，超过 100,000 所学校的三千万学生参与国家学校午餐计划，该计划每年提供近 50 亿次餐食。根据 Brigaid 的数据，平均学生从幼儿园到 12 年级会吃超过 2,000 次学校午餐。

Dan Giusti at Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School, on 24 September. Photograph: Josephine Sittenfeld/The Guardian
9 月 24 日，丹·吉乌斯蒂在纳撒尼尔·黑尔艺术磁石学校。照片：约瑟芬·西滕菲尔德/《卫报》

Giusti began cooking professionally at age 15, eventually rising up the ranks to run the kitchens at such formidable restaurants as 1789 and Old Ebbitt Grill in Washington DC. After spending three years in Copenhagen as executive chef of Noma – considered by many to be the best restaurant in the world – he left fine dining 10 years ago to start Brigaid, a for-profit company dedicated to improving food service programs in public schools, hospitals, prisons, assisted living facilities and other institutions. Since then, his company has expanded to 80 employees, including a stable of 75 professional chefs working across 45 partnerships in eight states. But despite the company’s growth, Giusti says the biggest impediment to recruiting talent continues to be convincing professional chefs that there are worthwhile culinary opportunities outside of the restaurant industry.
吉乌斯蒂 15 岁开始专业烹饪，最终在华盛顿特区的 1789 和 Old Ebbitt Grill 等著名餐厅担任厨房主管。在哥本哈根担任 Noma 行政主厨三年，Noma 被许多人认为是世界上最好的餐厅——10 年前，他离开了高端餐饮业，创立了 Brigaid，这是一家以盈利为目的的公司，致力于改善公立学校、医院、监狱、养老设施和其他机构的餐饮服务项目。自那时起，他的公司已发展到 80 名员工，包括 75 名专业厨师，他们在八个州的 45 个合作伙伴处工作。尽管公司规模不断扩大，吉乌斯蒂表示，招聘人才的最大障碍仍然是说服专业厨师，在餐饮业之外也有有价值的烹饪机会。

“For whatever reason, a lot of chefs don’t even associate working in an institution as a viable profession,” he said.
“无论出于什么原因，很多厨师甚至不认为在机构工作是一种可行的职业，”他说。

During his tenure at Noma, the restaurant retained its two-star Michelin rating and topped the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list multiple years. But feeding the community became a higher calling, one that made Giusti question why so many chefs define success by restaurant awards and critical reception.
在他的任职期间，Noma 餐厅保持了其两星米其林评级，并多次位居世界 50 佳餐厅榜首。但为社区提供食物成为了一种更高的使命，这使 Giusti 质疑为什么那么多厨师将成功定义为餐厅奖项和评论家的接受度。

His message has inspired former restaurant chefs on his culinary team – many of whom defected from fine dining careers to join Brigaid.
他的信息激励了他的烹饪团队中的前餐厅厨师——其中许多人从高端餐饮职业跳槽加入 Brigaid。

“I grew up on the free lunch program, so there’s a big part that really resonates for me,” said Mai Giffard, a program chef with the Central school district in Rancho Cucamonga, California, Before enlisting with Brigaid in 2023, Giffard owned her own bakery and worked in top Michelin-starred kitchens, including at Smyth in Chicago. “With fine dining, you’re cooking for such a small percentage of people that can afford to eat in such restaurants. With Brigaid, I’m able to reach thousands and thousands of kids.”
“我在免费午餐计划中长大，所以这对我来说真的很触动，”加州兰乔库卡蒙加中央学区的项目厨师 Mai Giffard 说，“在加入 Brigaid 之前，我在 2023 年拥有自己的面包店，并在包括芝加哥的 Smyth 在内的顶级米其林星级厨房工作过。“在高端餐饮中，你为这么少的人烹饪，他们能负担得起在这样餐厅吃饭。在 Brigaid，我能够接触到成千上万的孩子们。”

Elementary school students eating lunch at Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School’s cafeteria on 24 September. Photograph: Josephine Sittenfeld/The Guardian
9 月 24 日，在纳森·黑尔艺术磁铁学校食堂吃午餐的小学生。照片：约瑟芬·西滕菲尔德/《卫报》

Children walking by lunch offerings at Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School cafeteria on 24 September. Photograph: Josephine Sittenfeld/The Guardian
孩子们在 9 月 24 日走过 Nathan Hale 艺术磁铁学校食堂的午餐供应。照片：Josephine Sittenfeld/The Guardian

To attract talent, Brigaid’s starting salaries for chefs exceed that of most restaurants – averaging around $90,000 a year with full benefits for program chefs, commensurate with experience (health insurance, paid sick leave and retirement benefits are still rarities in the restaurant world). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for chefs and head cooks in 2024 was $60,990 per year. As a result, most professional chefs are transient, bouncing from one restaurant job to the next to acquire new skills and build their resumes but rarely staying in one place.
为了吸引人才，Brigaid 为厨师提供的起薪超过大多数餐厅——平均年薪约 9 万美元，包括项目厨师的全额福利，与经验相匹配（医疗保险、带薪病假和退休福利在餐饮界仍然是稀有）。根据劳工统计局的数据，2024 年厨师和主厨的中位年薪为 60,990 美元。因此，大多数专业厨师都是流动的，从一个餐厅工作跳到另一个，以获取新技能并建立简历，但很少在一个地方停留。

New London school department cafeteria employees making lunch at Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School cafeteria on 24 September. Photograph: Josephine Sittenfeld/The Guardian
新伦敦学校部门食堂员工于 9 月 24 日在内森·黑尔艺术磁石学校食堂制作午餐。照片：约瑟芬·西滕菲尔德/《卫报》

“Something that frustrates me about the restaurant industry is that I don’t think there’s much opportunity to develop people beyond cooking,” said Giusti. “Cooking in a school or an institution might not make you a better cook, but it makes you a better chef, a better leader and a better professional.”
Giusti 说：“我对餐饮业感到沮丧的一点是，我认为在烹饪之外发展人才的机会不多。”“在学校或机构里烹饪可能不会让你成为更好的厨师，但它会让你成为更好的厨师，更好的领导者，更好的专业人士。”

Nicole Meschi is senior director of nutrition services for the Cupertino Union school district in California, which is entering its third year as a Brigaid client. She said: “Imagine going to a restaurant and all 600 people for the night show up at the same time and you have 30 minutes to feed them. I think that’s one of the most shocking parts for the chefs who come here.”
尼科尔·梅什奇是加利福尼亚州库比蒂诺联合学区营养服务的高级总监，该学区已经作为 Brigaid 客户度过了第三个年头。她说：“想象一下，你走进一家餐厅，晚上有 600 人同时出现，而你只有 30 分钟时间来喂饱他们。我认为这是对来到这里的厨师们来说最令人震惊的部分之一。”

Alex Leigh, a regional chef with the New London, Connecticut, public school system since 2018, agreed that there’s a learning curve. Coming from top restaurant groups like Tom Colicchio’s Crafted Hospitality, he stressed that it takes time to adjust to the pace and rhythm of school kitchens. “If chefs try to come in and make this space into a restaurant, as opposed to adapting and using those skills and organizational pieces that they have, that’s when they struggle,” he said.
自 2018 年以来，亚历克斯·利是康涅狄格州新伦敦公立学校系统的一名区域厨师。他同意，这确实有一个学习曲线。他从汤姆·科利奇奥的 Crafted Hospitality 等顶级餐厅集团过来，强调适应学校厨房的节奏和节奏需要时间。“如果厨师们试图将这个地方变成一家餐厅，而不是适应并使用他们已有的那些技能和组织元素，那么他们就会遇到困难，”他说。

While the needs of each individual school district differ, a Brigaid chef’s primary role is to support an existing team of cafeteria workers. For former restaurant chefs accustomed to pursuing perfection, working alongside cooks of varying degrees of skill can be daunting, but also enlightening. “The things I want to cook have changed,” said Octavio Gaytan, an Austin-based training chef who joined Brigaid in 2021. “Now, I want to cook things that I know kids will get excited about”, as well as uncommon school menu dishes such as butter chicken or kimchi.
尽管每个学区的需求不同，Brigaid 厨师的主要职责是支持现有的食堂工作人员。对于习惯于追求完美的前餐厅厨师来说，与不同技能水平的厨师一起工作可能会感到 daunting，但也很有启发性。“我想做的菜已经改变了，”2021 年加入 Brigaid 的奥斯汀培训厨师奥塔维奥·加坦说。“现在，我想做的是我知道孩子们会兴奋的菜”，以及像黄油鸡或泡菜这样的不常见学校菜单菜品。

With Brigaid’s help, New London’s public schools have shifted away from serving frozen processed foods to all-scratch cooking, including developing the roast pork recipe that was served at the Summit in July. Last year, the district signed a five-year extension with Brigaid to provide continued support for the six district kitchens that serve approximately 3,000 students a day – an expenditure that comprises 3% of the district’s total annual food budget. “It was a very intentional, conscious decision that we made knowing that we are going to continue to carve out money in our budget because of the value that it brings to the district and to our program,” said Samantha Wilson, child nutrition program director in New London.
在 Brigaid 的帮助下，New London 的公立学校已经从提供冷冻加工食品转变为全手工烹饪，包括开发在 7 月份 Summit 上提供的烤猪肉食谱。去年，该地区与 Brigaid 签订了为期五年的延期合同，以继续支持为每天约 3,000 名学生服务的六个地区厨房——这笔支出占该地区总年度食品预算的 3%。New London 儿童营养项目主任 Samantha Wilson 表示：“这是一个非常有意、有意识的决策，因为我们知道我们将继续在我们的预算中划拨资金，因为这对地区和我们项目带来的价值。”