Beth Collins Biography
The Lunch Box Lead
Beth Collins has been cooking up change in kitchens, including
school kitchens, for more than 15 years. She is a partner in
Lunch Lessons LLC (http://lunchlessonsllc.com), with Ann Cooper.
Beth also owns Local Plates LLC, a consulting business based
in Traverse City, Mich., which offers food service solutions
ranging from assessments to technical and tactical implementation
of changes that result in healthier school food. Currently,
Chef Beth works with the Boulder Valley School District in
Boulder, Colo. to implement its School Food Project, a local
public-private initiative that resulted after Lunch Lessons,
LLC, performed a Nutrition Services Feasibility Study for the
district in 2008. Beth's other recent client engagements include:
assessments of the Santa Cruz City School District and the
Westminster Community Charter School in Buffalo, N.Y., technical
assistance in procurement operations for the Berkeley Unified
School District, workshop training for food service staff with
the Orfalea Fund's S'cool Food Project, and a complete systemic
overhaul of the Grand Traverse Area Catholic Schools in Traverse
City, shifting it from a contract reheat food service to a
self operated scratch cooking based lunch program.
Chef Beth's experience in school food reform was catalyzed
in 2000 with a move to East Hampton, N.Y. where she joined
the culinary team at the Ross School. Beth worked at Ross School
for six years establishing the local procurement and food processing
system as her primary work within the management team. She
became Executive Chef in 2004 and continued to refine the whole
foods system model before moving on to consulting in 2006.
Beth trained at Peter Kump’s Cooking School (now I.C.E.) in
1995 and worked in New York City with several culinary mentors
including chefs Fortunato Nicotra, Lidia Bastianich and Michel
Nischan.
Chef Beth is one of the original visionaries for The Lunch
Box Project, having overseen the first round of 80 scalable,
fully tested recipes (at both sea level and high altitude)
and will in the future be charged with ensuring The Lunch Box
is fully functional and accessible for all renegades.
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