Santa Cruz (CA) City Schools has hired James "Jamie" Smith as culinary director and inked a contract with fresh/local foods vendor Revolution Foods, reports the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Smith most recently served as chef de cuisine and executive sous chef at UC Santa Cruz, where he oversaw the service of 19,000 meals daily. He has also operated his own commercial restaurant.
Oakland-based Revolution Foods, which specializes in fresh meals made with locally grown ingredients, will be paid an estimated $740,000 a year for preparing and transporting the food daily. To balance the books for a meal program that is already being subsidized to the tune of some $500,000 annually, the board of education raised meal prices from $1.50 to $2 for breakfast and from $2.50 to $3.25 for lunch at the elementary from $3 to $3.50 for lunch at the middle schools. The high school program will remain unchanged.