Girl Scout summer camp has introduced girls to outdoor and team-building experiences for nearly 100 years. Well-orchestrated programming throughout the week keeps girls engaged and looking forward to more. Even the dining hall and food served are integral to the camp experience. Girl Scouts River Valleys collaborates with CKC Good Food to manage its private food service program and free up camp directors from hiring, training and scheduling cooks.
Summer camp has been a part of the Girl Scout experience in Minnesota for nearly 100 years. The specific camp activities may have changed through the years, but summer camp has consistently introduced girls to outdoor and team-building experiences.
Girl Scouts River Valleys hosts 2,600 campers and staff at three summer camp locations annually. Most campers come for 6 days; there are also 4-day camps and an “adult and me” weekend overnight experience for younger girls. Campers are 5 to 17 years old, with 4th-6th graders comprising most of the 4-day and 7-day campers.
While water sports, hiking or horseback riding are girls’ primary draw to camp, food is integral to the camp experience for more than simple nourishment. The girls help prepare the dining hall, learn to share family-style meals and clean up after meals. A particular highlight is cooking over the campfire one night during the week.
Food service and menu planning for overnight camps can be monumentally challenging. As a private food service program, Girl Scouts River Valleys isn’t constrained by nutritional guidelines for federal meal programs when menu planning. The menus do, however, need to accommodate notoriously picky eaters, the more refined tastes of adult staff members and a spectrum of food allergies and dietary restrictions. It’s impractical for campers with allergies to bring food from home when they’re away for 6 days.
Girl Scouts River Valleys self-managed its camp food service program throughout its history.
“Our camp directors would hire, train and schedule cooks,” said Jennifer Tschida, Camp Program Director for Girl Scouts River Valleys. “Those responsibilities took a lot of legwork and brainpower.”
The camp cooks planned menus, ordered food and prepared meals, often kid-friendly, scratch-cooked meals that expanded the kids’ palettes and appeased the staff.
In recent years, hiring and scheduling cooks grew more and more difficult, particularly given the camps’ somewhat remote locations and long hours.
In 2022, the nonprofit organization decided to redirect the camp directors’ time to higher priorities. It engaged CKC Good Food to manage its food service program.“CKC Good Food brought extensive experience in cost effectively nourishing kids,” Jennifer said of the company that manages food service programs for many Twin Cities-area schools. “The company also had team members who wanted to work in the camp kitchens throughout the summer. It was a big relief not worrying about staffing and ordering.”
With time-tested systems for procurement and food prep, established distributor relationships, and a library of recipes kids love, CKC Good Food had a solid foundation on which to build its partnership with Girl Scouts River Valleys.
The company set about learning more about summer camps and the food program and adapting its menus and recipes accordingly. During the first two summers, the company decreased its quicker-cooking meals, tweaked some recipes to be served family style, and created new meals to accommodate less common food allergies. It upped its dessert game, too.
The company’s leaders and the onsite team members regularly sought feedback on the meals from campers and staff to continue to refine the meals and add more variety.
“CKC Good Food is very receptive to feedback,” Jennifer said. “After each summer, we debrief to continue to improve. We also talk throughout the year about ideas for menus and the upcoming summers. Working with CKC Good Food is a collaborative effort.”
Her advice to other non-school programs considering CKC Good Food for food service management: “It’s worth partnering with CKC Good Food,” she said. “Be flexible rather than prescriptive in the menus you want and expect and give CKC Good Food time to learn your program. Provide feedback and continue to refine your program as you collaborate with the company.”