Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools partners with Weaver Street for school lunches

Continuing its mission to provide healthier school lunches, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is now offering more local food options to students.

The district is partnering with Weaver Street Market, located at 101 E. Weaver St. in Carrboro, to add more whole grain options to the school lunch menu.

Ryan McGuire, executive chef of Chartwells School Dining Services at CHCCS, said U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations changed at the beginning of the school year, and the school district is adapting to meet the new regulations.

He said the new regulations require at least 51 percent of the grains offered in school lunches to be whole grains.

McGuire also said a goal of the partnership is to offer whole grain options beyond the brown rice, whole wheat pastas and whole wheat flour already available.

Liz Cartano, director of dining for Chartwells at CHCCS, said middle school students sampled new whole grain foods last week.

She said the menu included farro, a whole grain similar to barley.

Cartano said she thinks students are responding well to the new lunch menus.

She said she heard about one middle school student who tried farro at school and then went to find it at Wal-Mart.

“I think the kids are enjoying getting to sample other options,” she said.

McGuire said collaborating with Weaver Street Market made sense to him, and he thinks it will be mutually beneficial for Weaver Street.

“It’s a great local organization,” he said.

McGuire said CHCCS has previously partnered with other local organizations, including Rex Hospital and UNC.

“We’re just trying to reach out to other people,” he said. “It’s a community effort.”

James Watts, merchandising manager at Weaver Street Market, said the company has always supported the schools.

He said improving school nutrition is a way to encourage healthy eating in children.

“Whole grains are an important part of the daily diet,” he said. “They’re not naturally what kids gravitate to.”

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