Business & Tech
Healthy Lunches Key to Success
ChefAdvantage in Kennesaw specializes in healthy food service for local child development centers, charter and private schools.
Twenty years ago, Randy Harris was a chef in the fine dining restaurant industry. Working 70 hours a week and never seeing his wife made him decide to make a career change.
Harris said he began ChefAdvantage, located in Kennesaw at 975 Cobb Place Blvd., to offer "the same principles of four-star hospitality and service to young children in child development centers."
That concept has worked, and now Harris and his 52 employees serve 6,000 meals every day to 54 schools around the metro-Atlanta area. Those employees include nutritionists to plan menus and chefs to implement them.
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ChefAdvantage offers delivery only of meals as well as chef teams to serve food daily to students. Harris said the biggest changes he has seen over 20 years is the rise in childhood obesity and the rise in childhood allergies.
"About 30 percent of children today suffer from one type of food allergy or another," said Harris, who resides in Marietta with his wife, Annlynn. One of the biggest allergies is to peanuts. "We won't allow a nut product through our door."
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Working in the food industy, especially in schools, presents a multitude of challenges, said Harris. "Everyone has an opinion on food because everyone is touched by food," he said. Sometimes those challenges come from administrators, parents, or the students themselves, Harris said.
What's his best advice to parents? Don't fret over mealtimes, and try to always sit down and eat as a family, Harris said.
"Don't make special food just for your kids," said Harris, who enjoys watching students taste new foods (usually vegetables) for the first time and like them. ChefAdvantage offers "eating in season," which means they partner with local farmers to offer locally-produced fruits and vegetables.
Harris encourages parents to take their children to the local farmers markets around the Atlanta area. "Get a farmer to talk about their crop and help kids make the connection with putting food together in life," Harris said. "It's a fun family outing, and it's free."
For more information on ChefAdvantage, visit their website at www.chefadvantage.com or call 770-421-9550.