Other caterers are known to simply reheat ready-made, processed foods; whereas RFRK makes food fresh from scratch - every day - to develop children's palates for the inherent deliciousness and nutritional value of real, all-natural food. By making the food ourselves, we retain full control of the ingredients and cooking methods - and therefore the nutritional value - passed on to hungry little bellies. It all comes down to our founding philosophy that children deserve and require REAL food: food that has been prepared using only natural & organic ingredients. Not food pulled from store shelves or industrial manufacturers. Put simply, that means cooking from scratch using techniques and ingredients that our grandmothers would recognize (and with variety they would envy!).

You're more than right to ask this, because the term "all-natural" is not regulated the way the word "organic" is.

To us "all-natural" means "as found in nature". Powdered beet is a natural food colorant; FD&C Red No. 40 is not. Butter is real, transfat is fake. But it goes way beyond that. North American food culture has deteriorated to the point where chemicals and other synthetic, unnatural items are listed as "ingredients" in our food supply. This status quo is unacceptable to RFRK. In the Real Food Kitchen, you'll never find the following: artificial or chemical preservatives, artificial food colours and flavours, factory farmed meats raised with routine antibiotics or added growth-hormones, artificial trans-fats, nor artificial thickeners or fillers of any kind. What do we use in the Real Food Kitchen? Plants, ethically-raised meats, and spices. And, of course, inspiration. Lots of it.

RFRK strictly maintains both a peanut and tree-nut free environment. We also require all of our suppliers to ensure that the ingredients or products they provide us are peanut and tree-nut free.

Are you kidding? Even our own team is made up of vegetarians, vegans, and people with various dietary special needs. We take allergies and food restrictions very seriously, and have designed software that allows us to track every single ingredient in every item on our menu and cross-reference it with every child with an allergy or food restriction. The end result? Our kitchen prepares special meal replacements fresh from scratch every day for all children with allergies and food restrictions; from the most common (vegetarian, lactose intolerance, and gluten intolerance, just to name a few) to the most obscure (ever heard of sea buckthorn? It's a type of berry). We also provide tools to help caregivers and parents track the special dietary needs of their children. Please contact us if you have specific concerns about a child's allergies or food restrictions.

There is no fixed answer to this question, since the amount of organic food fluctuates depending on what is available in the market. We can safely say that some menu items and ingredients will always be organic. Using only organic soy and soy products, for example, However, since obtaining organic certification is often prohibitively expensive for small local farmers, it's more important to us that we know and can trust the farmers and people who produce our food rather than whether or not the food is certified organic. Feel free to contact us directly for more specific details about the organic content in our current menu.

Much like the organic content of our menu, the amount of locally grown, raised, and produced food fluctuates every day. As you can imagine, we're able to use much more locally-grown ingredients and items in July than in January. What we can say with confidence, is that our priority is to support Ontario farmers, and that we've been recognized as a leader on this front. We are a certified Market Partner of the organization Local Food Plus (link: www.localfoodplus.ca), and we've been invited by the Ontario Ministry of Education to pilot bringing more local food into Ontario high schools. All of our dairy products, beef, poultry, and most of our produce come from local Ontario farmers.

Local Food Plus (LFP) (link to website: www.localfoodplus.ca) is a Canadian non-profit organization committed to fostering sustainable local food systems. LFP certifies local farmers and producers (like ours)[link to "Meet" section] and links them with local consumers (that's you). As a Market Partner, we've been recognized for prioritizing LFP-certified foods (that means foods that are locally grown in environmentally and socially responsible ways) on our menu. And why wouldn't we promote Ontario foods? Locally grown foods taste better, are generally more nutritious, and give the environment a break to boot!

Start with browsing through the Community section of our website to learn what the experts are saying about fussy eaters. The bottom line is that kids are learning every single day, and as parents, it's our joy to introduce kids to new ideas and reinforce healthy values. Remember the first time you tried to teach your child about sharing? Probably wasn't too well received; but you stuck with it because you knew the value of sharing. We believe the same thinking applies to helping our kids develop healthy eating habits. Because we realize changing kids perception and relationship to food requires more than just serving up hot, healthy, and delicious lunches and snacks, we've established the Real Food Education Program to help teach kids about food and nutrition in fun, simple, and creative ways! If you've identified your child as a fussy eater, now is the time to take action! There will always be a learning curve, but with calm persistence (and a smile!), we have the resources to do what's best for our kids.

That's simple, just give us a call. There's a world of nutritional information out there, and it's not always easy to navigate. So we're here to help staff and parents understand the thoughtfulness behind every menu item we serve.

Easier than you might think. First, RFRK cooks up inspired lunches fresh from scratch and delivers them directly to your school in time for lunch. At the school, an RFRK-trained Lunch Club Coach, along with Parent Volunteers, do some basic prep work for serving. This could mean washing and cutting the fruit, or getting serving utensils ready, for example. When the kids come for lunch, they bring their reusable stainless steel or plastic containers with them and dig into hot, delicious lunches. And while they're eating together, the Lunch Club Coach delivers some fun Real Food Education to keep kids interested in the food their devouring. After lunch, kids can scrape any leftovers into the compost bin, pack up their reusable containers to take home for washing, and go outside for recess! Couldn't be easier!

We start with the assumption that convenience, flexibility, and a variety of delicious, healthy, affordable snack options are what matter most. Ideal for before and after-school programs, RFRK essentially serves as a grocery store stocked only with all-natural and RFRK-approved snack items. Order fresh fruit and vegetables, with delicious dips and spreads, freshly baked muffins and breads, or any number of all-natural snacks (that kids love!), and RFRK will arrange a weekly delivery that's convenient for you. Save the hassle of lining up in stores and reading food labels and ingredient lists. With RFRK, you'll get worry-free snacks your school-agers will love.

All that's needed is a communal dining space where kids can gather to eat together. Many schools already organize space for communal lunches; whether it be a gymnasium, a multi-purpose room, or another room that's available during lunchtime. An important part of the Real Food Lunch Club is to bring kids together – both those eating a Real Food catered lunch and those bringing lunches from home - because that's the best environment for sharing, learning, and building healthy memories around real food. It also helps set the stage for all kids, not just those in the Real Food Lunch Club, to participate in the Real Food Education program.

Yes, the minimum enrollment to start a Real Food Lunch Club at your child's school is 50 children. If you have specific questions or concerns about enrollment, please contact us directly and we'll be happy to help you out.

We do! And zero! Leave it all to us. RFRK manages all of the registrations and takes care of all the administrative work. But calls from parents singing the praises of the program? We'll let you take those.

Currently, RFRK isn't equipped to offer subsidies to low-income neighborhoods or families, but we built this company on the importance of making real food accessible to all kids. Every Real Food Lunch Club has a self-subsidizing component built in, meaning some kids can be signed up for free or discounted rates. Please call us for details.

We'd love to hear from you! Contact us, and we'll send you more information on the Real Food Lunch Club, as well as some resources to help you mobilize your Parent Advisory Committee and school administration and determine whether there's an appetite for a Real Food Lunch Club at your school. We'll work with you to host an information night and tasting for parents, and survey your school to ensure the logistics of a Real Food Lunch Club will work.

Margaret Mead once said, "Never doubt that a thoughtful, committed group of citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." We couldn't agree with you more, Marge!

The program works best with volunteers from your community, but can also be run without them. Having volunteers helps the program thrive, keeps families invested in real food education, and keeps the overall costs of the Real Food Lunch Club low. Please contact us for more details.

Of course! Our mission is not just to bring healthy, all-natural foods into schools, it's to empower kids to become nutritional role models for their friends and families. The Real Food Challenge nutrition education program is part of each child's daily Real Food Lunch Club experience. That means all kids - those who've signed up for a catered hot lunch, and those sharing the table but bringing lunches from home – get to flex their nutritional IQ's with the Real Food Challenge!

Absolutely! We encourage teachers to take part in the Real Food Lunch Club, not only because it gives them delicious and healthy hot meals at work, but also because we know that kids benefit from seeing their teachers standing in the same line-up and eating the same all-natural meals that they're eat. It becomes a source of pride and can do wonders to enhancing a child's self-esteem. So sign yourself up and you'll never want to work through your lunch period again!

You're an Omnivore with a food restriction. Not to worry, we'll send you a special substitute on days where beef is on the menu.

Our service area is always growing! Please contact us directly to find out if we can deliver to your neighborhood.