Students are our #1 customers and Café LA uses their feedback to plan menus.  At food testing meetings, students evaluate new food items and Café LA only includes items on the menu that students approve. 

To get the word out about the importance of eating at school, our mascot, Café LA Ray, visits students across the District to teach and reinforce healthy lifestyles.  Ray has been on move supporting new meal programs such as Hot Supper, which has resulted in over 60,000 additional meals served daily.  Café LA’s Hot Supper is one of the first of its kind in the United States and certainly the largest. Once hot supper reaches all our schools, Café LA will be serving over 13 million additional meals annually.                                      

Café LA continually strives to maximize student participation in our meal programs by giving options that appeal to students.  Our nutritious school meals maximize students’ academic and physical potential, and we strives to help each student reach his/her full potential.

• Serves over 130 million meals a year, which includes over
  • 330,000 breakfasts per day
  • 285,000 lunches per day
  • 80,000 supper and snack meals per day
  • 240,000 summer meals per day
• Plans meals in compliance with the United States Department of Agriculture and California Department of Education nutrition standards
• Supports the District’s Good Food Procurement Resolution that supports a regional food system that is ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially responsible.
• Participates in Meatless Mondays by offering a meatless option on Mondays and daily vegetarian options
• One of the first districts in the United States making vegan options available daily at a growing number of schools
• Implemented the Save-It-For-Later program in schools to minimize food waste by allowing students to save non-perishable food items to eat outside the meal service period
• Participates in the California Thursdays initiative that commits to serving California-grown products on the menu
• Free breakfast for all at schools with the Breakfast in the Classroom Program
• Free hot supper for all at schools with the Hot Supper Program
• Provides My Payment Plus, an online pre-payment tool for parents/guardian to place money on a student’s account and view purchase history and balance.