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Mike Fisher just wrapped up his first full semester as the manager of student nutrition for San Benito High School District. He took over the program in January, prioritizing scratch cooking and local produce. He said that as a culinary teacher, he witnessed how important it was for students to have nutritionally balanced food.
“A hungry student just does not perform as well as a well-nourished student,” he said. “And you see it; I’ve seen it firsthand as I ran my class.”
In May, Fisher presented an update on the nutrition program to the district board.
Despite his push for more scratch cooking for student meals, which are more complicated to prepare, the number of meals served per enrolled student still increased slightly from 150 last school year to 153 during the 2024-25 school year.
Fisher credited the relatively small increase to the new student union, which was completed last year. According to Fisher’s data, the new student union serves more meals each day than the cafeteria and food carts combined.
“Thank you very much for building that building. I have to say that,” Fisher said. “It’s operationally not just convenient but central for students to get there in a timely manner.”
Fisher’s “scratch” approach to the nutrition program is something of a departure from the norm. Many schools contract for their food service, which makes and packages the food before it reaches the school. Fisher explained how the scratch approach is different.
“Instead of buying pre-packaged sandwiches or ‘Uncrustables’ or something like that, we want to make the sandwiches using as much fresh produce as possible and serving it fresh,” he said.
According to Fisher, scratch cooking with fresh produce introduces more nutrient-rich food into student’s diets, meaning they won’t get hungry as fast and have more energy for school.
Before spending seven years as the culinary teacher at Hollister High, Fisher worked as a chef in hotels and even a Michelin star-rated restaurant. He brings his experience in high volume catering for hotels to the program, and said if hotels can do it, so can schools.
“If you go to the Hotel Del Coronado, and go to a conference when there’s 500 people, they’re still making the food from scratch, right?” Fisher said. “Maybe pre-cut steaks, but they’re searing and cooking the steak from scratch there.”
The district also partnered with local producers like Tonascia Farms and Pinnacle Organics to purchase fresh produce for the meals.
San Benito High School District received state grants to fund the push toward scratch cooking.
According to the district’s Chief Financial Officer John Frusetta, the state is trying to encourage more fresh produce and scratch cooking in school cafeterias.
Frusetta said that the program still has room to expand.
“I’m really excited to see what a few years down the line looks like for us,” he said.
The grants included one-time funding used to purchase equipment, like an industrial food packaging sealer. The machine allows staff to cook and package meals onsite.
Fisher said he’s focused on getting a better understanding of what students want to eat, so that more of them will eat at school.
“I have a fixed number of clients on campus, and so what we want to do is capture as much of that audience as possible,” he said.
The BenitoLink Internship Program is a paid, skill-building program that prepares local youth for a professional career. This program is supported by Monterey Peninsula Foundation AT&T Golf Tour, United Way, Taylor Farms and the Emma Bowen Foundation.
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