N.S. tech company serves 750,000 school lunches to Maritime children

In the school cafeteria at Kings County Academy in Kentville, N.S., inclusivity is always top of the menu.

“Every single one of our meals can be made inclusive but the children all receive the same meal,” said Gillian Yorke, the parent cafeteria coordinator for the school. “When you sit next to your friend, you’re all still eating tacos but the taco is safe for you and culturally appropriate for you.”

Whether it’s a dietary, religious or cost-based need, every child’s food preference is being met discreetly and confidentially through Food for Thought Software Solutions.

Melissa MacMaster founded the company in 2020 during the COVID-19 crisis.

As the pandemic forced schools to shut their doors, MacMaster started her company as a way to get food onto the plates of vulnerable children at home. The meals were subsidized as part of Nova Scotia’s COVID-19 school lunch relief program.

“We knew with the widespread school closures, thousands of kids would not be receiving a hot lunch at school,” said MacMaster. “Food security was even greater than it already was at the time.”

Since then, they’ve served more than 750,000 meals to children in the Maritimes. MacMaster says they are on track to hit 1-million meals by the end of 2023.

Families at participating schools can access the program by registering and creating a profile on the all-in-one online platform. Parents can select their child’s meals through a ‘pay-what-you-can’ method.

“It really takes out that stigma around not being able to have lunch with the other children,” MacMaster said. “It also meets parents where they’re at financially while still ensuring that every child has access to a nutritious meal at school.”

For children living in poverty, a school lunch may be the only meal they have access to during the day. MacMaster says the platform ensures no child is being singled out.

“A universal school food program caters to everyone no matter their situation,” said MacMaster.

“There’s no identifying process as there is no money exchanged or list kept,” Yorke explained. “It all just happens, so children all pick up the same meal and they all sit down at the same table.”

The software has been used to launch province-wide school lunch programs in both P.E.I. and New Brunswick. MacMaster says they’re also launching in seven others schools in Nova Scotia this year.

Yorke says the program has been well-received by families at their schools.

“We wanted to make sure all students felt included at the lunch table with their peers,” said Yorke. “Nothing can bring people together like food can.”