Monty Staggs, a 1992 Salisbury High School graduate and president of Southwest Foodservice Excellence, has returned to Salisbury to provide a new food experience for the district.

In a recent interview with The Press, Staggs said he never took any cooking classes in high school; his goal was to be a lawyer.

While in college, he found himself cooking for friends and providing catering services.

“Cooking made me happy and provided an immediate response,” Staggs said.

Shortly thereafter, he attended Johnson and Wales University in Miami and graduated at the top of his class.

Staggs entered the fine dining arena earning a spot on Good Morning America on Thanksgiving Day 1997.

From there, Staggs went to the manufacturing side of food service creating recipes for the top 200 restaurant chains in the United States.

At the same time, Staggs remembers attending lunch at his children’s’ school in Fort Collins, Colo. and how horrible the food was.

Shortly thereafter, he met the owners of SFE, Luis Benavides and Donald Gala, and joined the company as president.

Currently SFE partners with over 100 school districts in seven states, servicing more than 675 campuses. Add Salisbury to that list as the first school district in Pennsylvania to contract with SFE.

“It means the world to me to be back in the district where I graduated,” Staggs said. “This is personal to me. We want to shine in the district.”

Staggs said when the government initiated the HealthierUS School Challenge, a key component of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to end childhood obesity within a generation, many food service providers purchased food for students in kindergarten through 12th grade to meet the requirements.

“Some of those foods have lots of preservatives and are filled with sodium,” Staggs said. “If I cook from scratch, I teach the skills and produce a better product. I control the sodium and the portion size.”

Staggs believes the men and women in the school kitchens can cook - they just haven’t been asked to.

“We make more food from scratch than our competitors. We buy more produce and raw proteins.”

The SFE philosophy signifies health, nutrition, development, teamwork and the merging of cultures throughout the company, permitting SFE to guarantee the success of its child nutrition program.

“Give our partners the best service within the K-12 community, and we will have a partner for life,” Gala said.

Staggs said that is the goal.

SFE promotes a teamwork approach between SFE, the district, parents and students. The company will reach out to parents, students and members of the district consistently to ensure satisfaction.

SFE Director of Child Nutrition Dustin Seymour will oversee the food service for the district and his office will be in the high school.

Large televisions will be placed in each school cafeteria to promote healthy choices, a Get Fit program, menus and more.

A fresh fruit and vegetable bar will be available daily in all schools. Breakfast and lunch will be served in all buildings. The menus for both elementary schools will be the same; middle school will have its own menu as will the high school.

For the middle and high schools, SFE is providing a food court atmosphere to prepare the students for college. At the high school for example, daily selections for August and September include hamburger or cheeseburger, spicy chicken sandwich, pepperoni pizza, specialty pizza, Asian daily dish, delicatessen sub selections and an Adobe Grill including nachos, tacos and a Mexican specialty dish as well as other daily specials.

To address the many allergies in the district, SFE will use an app for parents and students to customize meals. Once the allergy is noted, meals containing food products affecting the allergy will be unavailable for purchase.

Meal prices will remain the same as last year.

DJ Cheetah, a SFE mascot, may also make a special appearance and plans are for a roving chef and cooking classes for students. Taco bars, pasta bars and other culinary creations could also be added.

Staggs hopes to provide a food truck and/or catering for district events as the partnership moves forward.