The makers of the Jennie-O® turkey brand – a category leader and trusted brand for turkey products – announced that on Thursday, May 18, the brand team and chef Carla Hall, a noted celebrity chef, will recognize the unsung heroes of the school cafeteria staff at Detroit’s Central Durfee K-12 School, where a recently signed proclamation has declared the month of May as “School Lunch Hero Month”. Detroit is the last stop of the national “School Cafeteria Takeover” tour hosted by the Jennie-O® brand team and Chef Hall.
The brand announced its partnership in October 2022 with esteemed chef, cookbook author and beloved TV personality Carla Hall. As part of this partnership, the Jennie-O team and Hall visited schools across the nation to honor school cafeteria staff by hosting “School Cafeteria Takeovers,” where they cooked Jennie-O® turkey as part of the catered meal for the staff, pampered them with massage chairs, baked biscuits and showed them gratitude and love from their students with flowers and hand-written notes. They kicked off the campaign in Knoxville, Tenn., at Blue Grass Elementary School in October 2022, headed to Panorama High School in Los Angeles in November 2022, and visited Houston’s Mandarin Immersion Magnet School in February 2023.
“The School Cafeteria Takeovers with Jennie-O has been an absolute pleasure, as I’ve been able to honor some of the most unsung heroes in our school system – the cafeteria staff!” said Chef Carl Hall. “From Knoxville to Los Angeles, Houston and now Detroit, we want to thank them from the bottom of our hearts for caring for our children and putting good food in their stomachs – which then allows them to have proper nutrition to play, study, compete in sports, and more!”
Hall and the Jennie-O® brand team worked together to develop a grazing table featuring Jennie-O® turkey for the school cafeteria staff to enjoy this week. During the event, Hall will lead a baking tutorial of her famous biscuits with school cafeteria staff. Additionally, Jennie-O will bring in local businesses to offer refreshments and relaxing amenities for school cafeteria heroes, including chair massages. Finally, staff will receive heartfelt notes of gratitude from the student body.
“We are elated that the renowned Chef Carla Hall, who combines her love of food and people, is coming here to the Central-Durfee K-12 Campus. Our staff and students can’t wait for the lunchroom takeover!” said Principle LaToyia Webb
“It has been a dream come true to work with chef Carla Hall over the last few months to honor cafeteria staff across the country with our ‘School Cafeteria Takeover’ program,” said Renee Cool, brand manager at Jennie-O Turkey Store. “Seeing the huge smiles on the cafeteria staff’s faces, have them realize that we recognize all they do, and working with students to show our gratitude to the staff has been incredibly gratifying. And we hope to bring even more joy to four more schools in the next few months with our special kitchen equipment giveaway!”
An additional component of the School Cafeteria Takeovers program with Hall, the makers of the Jennie-O® brand will provide $25,000 in kitchen equipment to four additional schools throughout the Spring and Summer to help fulfill wish lists for cafeterias in need of new equipment and supplies. To nominate a school for a $25,000 prize of kitchen equipment, supplies and essentials, share your school’s story and how they make a difference in lives everyday HERE.
- Jennie-O is the leading turkey provider to school districts in the United States.
- Jennie-O is the leading turkey provider in 9 of the top 10 school districts in the nation.
- Jennie-O serves more than 5,000 school districts in the U.S.
- Jennie-O has the largest variety of K-12 turkey products in America.
- The Jennie-O sales team has more than 100 years of combined experience in servicing K-12.
- 90 percent of USDA-donated turkey is made by Jennie-O.
For more information about Jennie-O® turkey products, including recipes, nutritional information and where to buy, visit JennieO.com or follow the brand on social media at Facebook.com/JennieOTurkey, Instagram.com/JennieO, TikTok.com/@jennieobrand and Twitter.com/JennieO.
