Dishes2U Brings Restaurant Meals to Chandler Students
Two Chandler schools joined a new lunch program this year that caters restaurant meals directly to students.
Parents and students at the schools—the Chandler campuses of Archway Classical Academy and Pieceful Solutions—now have the option to order from the menus of restaurants, such as Subway, Pita Jungle, and Panda Express.
To make the program work, the catering company, Dishes2U™, negotiated lower rates on the schools’ bulk orders, and parents often pay below the menu price, said Gary Manton who runs the small business with his wife.
The company, which caters to local businesses, currently serves about 1,500 lunches each week to area schools, including the two in Chandler, Tempe Preparatory Academy and On-Track Tutoring. However, Dishes2U™ does not serve traditional public districts because those schools must comply with federal nutrition standards, which the company does not.
Manton said his company allows the choice of several dishes every lunch, so parents can choose vegetarian, gluten-free, or other options for the Chandler students. A small percentage of the sales goes back to the school.
“When kids come into the cafeterias at the Great Hearts school that we work with in Chandler, kids are bouncing off the wall ready to get lunch,” he said.