Gulf Stream School's lunch program is part of our comprehensive commitment to excellence

FISD stands for Flik Independent School Dining.

As a culinary-driven organization from inception, FlSD’s focus has always been cooking from fresh, whole foods and using quality ingredients. Our mission is to provide wholesome, nutritious meals that fuel the minds of our campus communities, each day.

The on-site chef, Brendan Ryan, creates menus with local/regional flavors and ingredients. The Chef receives guidance, training and suggestions for on-trend, innovative ideas from a central FISD culinary, nutrition and marketing team.

FISD believes in a customized approach to serving students with special dietary needs. Schools receive support from registered dietitians regarding training, operation management and communication to ensure safety. We work with our schools to develop food-allergy procedures that are appropriate for each school community. If you have any special dietary needs, please contact the Gulf Stream School nurse and she will relay that information to the FISD team.

Health is very personal to people and the term “healthy” can be defined and construed in many ways.
At FISD, “healthy” is offering foods for balance and variety from all food groups to ensure kids get the macronutrients and micronutrients to meet their physical and mental needs. We seek to introduce new foods to students and promote foods that most Americans don’t consume enough of — vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes. Healthy also means fostering a good relationship with food — enjoying eating and connecting with others.

FISD has a two-tier strategy when it comes to purchasing. We have core suppliers and managed order guides to ensure food specs are followed. We track spend monthly for compliance and to check on any gaps in distribution. The local management team also has the power to use their corporate credit card to purchase any hyper-local or specialty needs.

We support organic purchasing where it makes sense for our schools — based on availability, budgets/ price. We also try to be aware of the carbon footprint. First choice is typically local/regional. There are also farms employing great practices that may not necessarily be certified organic due to expense, etc. to be aware of.

FISD identifies local as 150 miles and closer and expands to 450 miles for local/regional, especially in areas where seasonality plays a big role in availability — like South Florida. Local spend as a company is currently over 20% of purchases. This includes items from managed order guides as well as credit card spend from managers and regional support.

Vegetarian options are available every day for any student and are listed on the menu. For example, on day of turkey meatloaf, the vegetarian entrée was a butternut squash and bean burrito.

Scratch cooking, fresh made is best made. Dressings, soups, sauces and entrées are made from scratch, and deli turkey and roast beef are made in house. There is minimal use of frozen food (peas and corn when not in season) and canned items (like tomatoes for sauce).