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Daniel Giusti, a Michelin-starred chef, knows a thing or two about lunch.
For the last three years, he dished out $300 lunches to the elite at Noma, a Copenhagen restaurant consistently deemed one of the "world's best."
But now he's leaving the fine dining world to feed schoolchildren for $3.07 each — the amount the US Department of Agriculture reimburses schools for free lunches.
For the past three months, he has traveled to 15 public school districts across the US as research for his new start-up. Called Brigaid, the startup's goal is to put a chef in every school kitchen and redesign the school lunch.
"This is a problem that people have been trying to solve for decades," he tells Tech Insider. "The truth is that everything can be better."
Giusti has learned a lot about how schools can make lunches more appetizing, which can dramatically reduce how much food kids throw out.
Here are four ideas he wants to bring to schools with Brigaid, launching this fall.
From the start, Giusti, 31, knew Brigaid would be a challenge in schools, especially ones that have small budgets, long-term contracts with food providers, and strict nutritional guidelines. Putting chefs in school kitchens seems like an impossible task.
But if anyone could figure out how to finance a redesigned school lunch, it would be chefs, since they are natural problem-solvers, Giusti says.
"You need to be prepared to move and be dynamic." he says. "Chefs are trained to get a lot of food out in a timely manner with little money in high-pressure environments. It doesn't take a chef from Noma to do that — any chef can do that."
Lunch at Henry High School in Minneapolis Public School District...Slow Cooked Pork Carnitas, Spiced Rice and Beans, Pico de Gallo, and Chipotle Mayo....All made in House, all Delicious!! @brigaid research trip underway.....
A photo posted by Dan Giusti (@thedanielgiusti) on Feb 9, 2016 at 9:49am PST on Feb 9, 2016 at 9:49am PST
Last month, #ThanksMichelleObama made the rounds, as a joking response to her efforts to make school lunches more nutritious. Teens tweeted and Instagrammed photos and videos of gross school lunches, which are designed to comply with the new USDA guidelines championed by the First Lady. Below is one such photo:
#school #food #thanksmichelleobama #whateven #why
A photo posted by Matthew Patterson (@mosinnagant1997) on Nov 11, 2015 at 5:24pm PST on Nov 11, 2015 at 5:24pm PST
Giusti, who agrees with the tongue-in-cheek complaints online, was disappointed by how many times he saw frozen or lukewarm food in cafeterias. He gives the example of frozen muffins in plastic bags. Simply heating up the muffins would make them more appetizing, he says.
School kitchens can also improve the presentation of the food, like taking those muffins out of the plastic and displaying them in a basket.
Giusti noticed that many school kitchens don't have an organized workflow.
"There would be six people in a kitchen, and they would either be doing nothing or all over the place," he says.
Giusti believes kitchens could benefit from having structured chains of command, similar to restaurant kitchens.
Had a blast yesterday working on some knife skills with Chef Tom from @ckitchenpgh and an awesome group of students from Propel McKeesport...getting ready for #Projectlunchtray 2016!
A photo posted by Dan Giusti (@thedanielgiusti) on Jan 21, 2016 at 4:11pm PST on Jan 21, 2016 at 4:11pm PST
Many schools also only use their kitchens for about an hour or two a day, with multiple 22-minute lunch shifts. Giusti says that schools should use the remaining time throughout the school day for food preparation.
This would take more time, resources, and energy, especially for larger schools that serve upwards of 3,000 meals a day, but Giusti says it would be worth it. Students, especially those who don't have enough to eat at home, deserve better meals. To make that happen, school kitchens need to be more efficient.
"Some schools have kitchens 10 times larger than they need to be, and when you go into them, nothing much is happening," he says. "It doesn't smell like food — it doesn't really smell like anything, because everything is just gradually heated up."
Brigaid's workflow plans will be different for virtually every school district, depending on size and where food comes from. The Brigaid team will design a plan for a small east coast district for the fall.
Nationally, school lunches have to include five components: a protein, starch, vegetable, fruit, and a milk. Here's an example:
During Giusti's visits, he noticed the fruit would often get thrown in the trash. Kids placed their apples on tables in the corner of lunchrooms for others to take; but since schools can't re-serve the leftovers after each lunch shift, schools would trash the apples anyway.
In some US schools, students dump 40% of all served lunches.
"I'd go to schools, and red apples would be the morning snack. Then, 45 minutes later, they're served another apple for lunch. They don't want another fucking apple," Giusti says.
@brigaid and a great team of students from Propel McKeesport threw down this Vegan School Lunch today @ckitchenpgh Project Lunch Tray....Sun-dried Tomato Hummus with spicy pita chips and a salad of melon, cucumber and lime...
A photo posted by Dan Giusti (@thedanielgiusti) on Feb 27, 2016 at 1:24pm PST on Feb 27, 2016 at 1:24pm PST
Schools lunches are often designed by nutritionists, but Giusti says they are often not trained in food service. He believes schools should have more of a middle ground, making the 5-component rule more lax.
This would give chefs more freedom to design tastier meals with three or four food groups, while still focusing on nutritional value. It would also make kids excited about lunch, or at the very least, encourage them not to throw it away.
Great day learning how to make delicious school lunch with a smile from these ladies at Johnson High School in the St. Paul School District...Thank You!! @brigaid is coming...
A photo posted by Dan Giusti (@thedanielgiusti) on Feb 8, 2016 at 3:36pm PST on Feb 8, 2016 at 3:36pm PST
Eventually Giusti hopes to move toward real policy changes, like mandates for every new school to include a kitchen. He describes one school, in which its "kitchen" was a closet that featured a desk, a computer, and a tiny oven. Others didn't even have that.
"It's like building a house without a bathroom," he says.
Giusti believes chefs need to work alongside administrators, students, teachers, and parents in order fix the school lunch. He doesn't want the chefs to be seen as consultants, but as part of the school's community.
The good news: there are plenty of schools already serving delicious meals, like Johnson High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. "These folks are doing it right out here!" Giusti wrote on Instagram. "Notice a little Sriracha action on that chicken!"
Great Lunch at Johnson High School today in the St. Paul School District... These folks are doing it right out here!....notice a little Siracha action on that chicken!
A photo posted by brigaid (@brigaid) on Feb 8, 2016 at 3:01pm PST on Feb 8, 2016 at 3:01pm PST