Chef-driven, Scratch-cooked Meals Now Served Weekly Across All Newark Public Schools, With Plans to Expand to Daily Offerings
NEWARK, N.J.– April 30, 2026 – RWJBarnabas Health today announced a major milestone in its partnership with Newark Public Schools and Brigaid to transform school meals in New Jersey’s largest school district, ensuring that all 41,000-plus Newark students are now offered fresh, healthy, scratch-cooked meals at least once per week, with the goal of expanding to daily offerings.
Launched last year, the initiative embeds highly trained professional chefs from Brigaid directly into Newark school cafeterias to work alongside district food service teams. The program is designed to provide more opportunities for nutritious, appealing meals prepared from scratch using fresh, New Jersey–grown fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and high-quality ingredients.
“Ensuring a child’s access to nutritious food is fundamental to their health, learning and long-term economic well-being,” said Mark E. Manigan, President and Chief Executive Officer of RWJBarnabas Health. “We know through experience that every dollar we invest in ensuring a child can have a healthy lunch is returned many times over throughout their lives—not just in better educational and health outcome today, but in better opportunities tomorrow. This critical investment furthers RWJBarnabas Health’s commitment to shaping outcomes that reach far beyond the walls of our hospitals and extend deep into our communities.”
Throughout 2025, Brigaid’s professional chefs worked alongside school food service teams to conduct a comprehensive assessment of cafeteria operations across all 65 Newark public schools. The effort included evaluating kitchen infrastructure and equipment, modernizing facilities, upgrading menus, and providing hands-on culinary training for cafeteria staff.
As a result, every Newark public school now serves a scratch-cooked meal at least once weekly—an important step toward a fully transformed meal program that prioritizes nutrition, taste and student engagement. Nearly 34,000 or 84 percent of Newark public school students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, according to the district.
“For many of our students, school meals are not just a supplement—they are a primary source of daily nutrition,” said Roger León, Superintendent of Newark Public Schools. “With the majority of Newark students relying on school meals as a primary source of nutrition, we have a responsibility to ensure the food we serve is as healthy and nourishing as possible.”
Child food insecurity remains a significant public health challenge nationwide, particularly in underserved communities, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with more than 13 million children lacking consistent access to enough nutritious food. The Food Research & Action Center reports that students who rely on free and reduced-price meals may receive up to half of their daily calories at school during the academic year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that healthy eating patterns are associated with improved academic performance, better mental health and lower risk of chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease later in life. At the same time, school districts across the country face structural challenges that drive reliance on prepackaged and ultra-processed foods due to cost and staffing pressures.
“This work is about more than changing recipes, it’s about changing systems,” said Chef Dan Giusti, Founder and CEO of Brigaid. “By placing chefs throughout the district to work alongside school kitchen teams, we are showing that together through collaboration and partnership, scratch-cooked, nutritious food at scale is achievable. Newark is showing what leadership looks like, and this milestone is just the beginning.”
Supported through an appropriation by the State of New Jersey, the school meals initiative is a cornerstone of RWJBarnabas Health’s Our Healthy Communities program, through which the health system partners with local leaders, health care providers, civic organizations, clergy and community-based organizations to strengthen critical social and health care infrastructure and expand patient access to care, healthy foods, nutrition education, transportation, economic mobility, and stable housing. Through the community health resources from the State of New Jersey, RWJBarnabas Health has reinvested more than $151 million in community health initiatives beyond traditional medical care to build and sustain long-term health for the residents and communities it serves.
“Ensuring students have access to fresh, nutritious meals is a critical investment in both public health and academic success,” said Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin. “This initiative reflects what strong partnerships and smart, targeted funding can achieve when we prioritize outcomes for our children. By moving toward scratch-cooked, high-quality meals, we are addressing food insecurity in a meaningful way. I am proud to support policies that deliver results for Newark’s students and families.”
With weekly scratch-cooked meals now reaching every Newark public school, partners will continue expanding capacity with the goal of offering fresh, chef-driven meals daily, helping students develop healthier eating habits that support learning and health for years to come.
About RWJBarnabas Health
RWJBarnabas Health is New Jersey’s largest and most comprehensive academic health system, caring for more than five million people annually. Nationally renowned for quality and safety, the system includes 14 hospitals and 9,000 affiliated physicians integrated to provide care at more than 700 patient care locations.
RWJBarnabas Health partners with its communities to build and sustain a healthier New Jersey. It provides patient-centered care in a compassionate manner and is the state’s largest safety-net provider and leader in addressing the social determinants of health. RWJBarnabas Health provides food to the hungry, housing for the homeless and economic opportunities to those most vulnerable.
RWJBarnabas Health’s commitment to enhancing access to care includes a transformative partnership with Rutgers University, including the Rutgers Cancer Institute — the state's only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
RWJBarnabas Health is among New Jersey’s largest private employers, with more than 45,000 employees, contributing more than $7 billion to the state economy every year. For more information, visit rwjbh.org.
Media Contact:
Carrie.Cristello@rwjbh.org