D.C. School Lunch Firm Challenged ; Vendor Nets Hefty Pacts Despite Nutritional, Food-Safety Issues

Summary

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A company that serves meals to 2 1/2 million schoolchildren daily in more than 500 districts nationwide, with multimillion-dollar contracts in both Washington, D.C., and Chicago, has a history of marginal quality and food-safety scares amid concerns over the nutritional content of its school menus, according to school and company records.

Chartwells-Thompson School Dining Services, a subsidiary of the Charlotte, N.C.-based Compass Group, owner of Burger King, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, is one of North America's largest school cafeteria operators - its contracts with the Chicago Public Schools from 2001 to 2009 totaling more than $289 million and a D.C. operation that could net the firm as much as $140 million from 2008 to 2013.

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D.C. School Lunch Firm Challenged ; Vendor Nets Hefty Pacts Despite Nutritional, Food-Safety Issues

Besides sharing the same food service provider, the D.C. and Chicago districts both suffer from high rates of poverty and child obesity in what are known as "food deserts," areas with poor access to healthy, affordable food. The District has the highest rate of adolescent obesity in the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Chicago ranks fourth-highest.

Even as Congress weighs recommendations from the not-for-profit, nongove...

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