Colorado school district and counties map, and links to contact info.
If your primary focus is finding your point of contact in schools, here is the direct link to the spreadsheet created by our Department of Education that has every participating sponsor (school meal operator) and their contact info.
We recommend familiarizing yourself with the Colorado School Districts and Counties Map that is shown above. Find which School Districts are near you and then reference the spreadsheet with contact info.
Also, the CO School Districts and Counties Map does not show Charter School locations, and those are found on the spreadsheet if they operate a Child Nutrition Program that receives Federal Reimbursement. You can visit the CO League of Charter Schools website and the Charter Schools Institute website to identify where the Charter Schools are. Important note – not every Charter School runs its own school meal program. Most receive meals from their local school district, some receive meals from a vended meal company, and others don’t run a reimbursable meal program and either have parents pay for meals and/or they have them delivered by a local restaurant. When chatting with your local charter school it is important to ask how they operate their meal program and who is their SFA (School Food Authority). The SFA will be the decision maker on local food purchases.
Many of our School Meal Operators (The Buyers), have perspectives to share when it comes to getting your local product into their School Meal Program. This relationship can take time to develop and may require multiple touch points before a “sale” actually happens. However, once that relationship is in place and your products meet their needs, this can become a year over year market channel for you. It is important to recognize that our School Meal Programs are highly regulated, have tight margins, and many are stretched very thin. Plus, their students are showing up to eat no matter what – so if you are experiencing crop failure, delays, or similar – it is important that you maintain clear and open lines of communication. They do have back-up plans they can leverage with enough notice! Some may want to buy your product but they don’t have the staff or the proper equipment. Some may be open to receiving unwashed product at a lower price. Ultimately, starting off by asking questions to learn more about their meal program and capacity can help you better understand which products might be the best fit for their needs and build that relationship. If you are a Seller and would like us to add a perspective in – please contact us!