Organics hot in Oregon schools

Organic Fresh Fingers hummus pizza.

Organic Fresh Fingers and Diva Catering are partnering to offer Oregon schools hot lunches made with all organic, locally purchased ingredients. It is the latest offering from Salem-based Organic Fresh Fingers. The partnership would allow schools that want hot, organic meal delivery, but lack the facilities to re-heat meals, to work with Organic Fresh Fingers rather than local school districts, says Evann Remington, co-founder and CEO of the company.

The move could help Organic Fresh Fingers see the number of Oregon schools and day care facilities it serves grow significantly from the 25 it currently serves. The program, however, raises the costs of the meals to between $4 and $5 per meal per child from around $2 to $3 per child, putting them out of reach for schools that serve low-income populations, according to Remington, which she says is a problem from an ethical standpoint.

“I believe that high-quality, nutritional food is a right for all children,” she says. “We're not sure how we're going to subsidize that cost. One way is if we can help the lower income schools to get a kitchen or a place to heat meals themselves.”

Remington—a “serial entrepreneur” and mother of one—started Organic Fresh Fingers in 2007. In 2008, the company's first full year of business, it had $250,000 in sales. It serves daily meals in 25 schools in western Oregon and has a contract to offer one meal a week as a choice for students in Portland's 85 public schools. All of the ingredients it uses are certified organic, sourced directly from local farms within a 100-mile radius, and tend to be seasonal, according to the company. In late 2008, Organic Fresh Fingers diversified and began offering frozen meals using the same methods as its school meals in retail outlets in 11 states. Remington says she expects the company to reach $600,000 in sales in 2009.

To reach that goal, Remington hired six new employees in the first quarter of 2009 to form the company's first marketing department, almost doubling the size of its staff. They will focus on expanding the company's institutional customer base to include nursing homes and retirement communities, she says. The nutritional components of local, organic foods that make the company's meals so attractive to schools tend to fit the strict nutritional requirements of elderly populations, she says.