ThisWeek CW 10/13/2011
The Canal Winchester Local School District found the right blend of skills and background with recent food services hire Sean Blair.
Blair has spent his life working in the food services industry, beginning as a teenager with his parents’ catering company and then earning his Sous Chef Certification at Columbus State Community College through the American Culinary Federation.
“I’ve been in food service my whole life,” Blair said. “I managed a bakery at 19, I’ve had my own catering business and worked as an executive chef.”
But the recession caught up to Blair, and he spent six months unemployed before learning about the opportunity at the schools through food services contractor Chartwell
Chartwell has been the district’s food service provider for 11 years, according to Jeannie Martin, director of dining services.
“I didn’t know a lot about Chartwell at first, but as a chef, I was impressed by the fact that everything is made from scratch,” Blair said.
According to Chartwell regional dietician Mindy Grant, the company set its food service standards to meet or exceed the HealthierUS School Challenge program developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and incorporated into First Lady Michele Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign to fight childhood obesity.
“We’re using whole grains and low fat [foods] so we can meet and exceed those standards,” Grant said. “We serve dark green and orange vegetables so we’re putting highly nutritious food in front of the students to get them used to seeing them so that eventually they’ll learn to ask for them at home.”
Blair, whose daughter Natalie is a sixth-grader at the school, said that the food being prepared at school, along with the other educational outreach Chartwell does with the teachers and students, has had an impact on his own household.
“It’s helped me at home because my daughter will try things at school she might not have tried at home, and now she sees it every day so she’s getting used to these fresh food options,” Blair said. “So many kids just have McDonald’s taste buds.”
Martin said that she’s grateful for Blair because his background is a good fit for the Chefs 2 School program, which uses local chefs to do classroom demonstrations of food preparation and healthy recipes appropriate for elementary students through high-schoolers.
“We plan on having [Blair] go to the elementary schools to teach them how to prepare, chop and blend foods to make healthier and tasty food themselves at home,” Martin said. “We’ve been using him to demo techniques and asking him to share his ideas about what he learned from taking the Chartwell Culinary Master Works class.”
Martin and Blair agree that this position has been a win for both of them.
“It’s funny, some people think I took a step back from being a restaurant chef to this, but I’m done by 3 p.m. and have my weekends with my family,” Blair said. “And I still get to keep my creative juices flowing.”