RISE, A Modern Guide for the Purpose Driven Woman Summer 2014 | Page 39

Using Fresh and Local Ingredients to
Improve School Meals in the Midwest
Written by Beth Kriestch for FoodTank.org

Realizing a void in the marketplace for school meals developed with fresh and local ingredients, a
husband and wife team developed Gourmet Gorilla as a way to bring more nutritious and sustainable meals to children in the greater Chicago area.
Advocates of farm-to-table sourcing, Gourmet Gorilla places an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients and the company collaborates with key players in the food system in order to provide 10,000
nutritious meals to children across Illinois and Wisconsin each weekday. The business works closely
with local farmers, urban agriculturists, dietitians, chefs, and organic food manufacturers in order to
produce the nutritious meals necessary to help children learn and grow.
Gourmet Gorilla’s meals are made with organic ingredients and are crafted to meet city, state, and
federal requirements from the Illinois Board of Education, the City of Chicago Board of Education,
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Final Rules of the Healthy & Hunger Free Kids
Act.
The company started out in a small kitchen in 2009 and is now hou ͕