The 2023-24 school year is upon us, and Fresh Picks Café is pleased to manage Winchendon's Food Service Program. Fresh Picks Café is a locally owned and operated company dedicated to serving delicious, wholesome, quality meals that meet the latest nutritional guidelines. Here are some of the features your children enjoy through your district’s partnership with Fresh Picks Cafe:
1.) Menus:
We offer online, interactive menus through ISITE. You have the option to download the “Web Menus by Isite” app to your mobile device and check your student’s menu choices daily! Ingredients, allergen and nutritional data for all items served can be viewed from this app. Interactive menus are also available online and can be viewed and printed from your school district’s nutrition website.
Murdock Middle and Murdock High School have the following stations offering a variety of daily lunch choices. Signature Picks features homemade buffet style and made to order entrees; Market Fresh, features a daily selection of Entrée Salads, Bento Boxes, and Parfaits; Pizza Picks features quality Fresh Baked Pizza made with whole grain dough and low-fat cheeses; Express Picks offers Hot “Grab and Go” Sandwiches and Deli Picks serves made to order deli sandwiches.
The Kids’ Pick Café at Toy Town Elementary and Memorial Elementary School offers a wide selection of choices each day including items such as our featured hot entrée, deli sandwiches, salads, bento boxes and parfaits.
The cafeterias will also be open prior to school each day to provide a complete nutritious breakfast featuring a wide range of hot and cold breakfast meal options. All breakfasts are accompanied by a variety of fruit selections to enable students choose a full, healthy meal to start their day.
All elementary schools participate in Fresh Picks Café’s innovative “Breakfast After the Bell” program. This program was developed to help address food insecurity by providing all students with easier access to breakfast at a time when they are most ready to eat. Letters will be distributed with full details of how the program works and how your children can participate.
Toy town Elementary and Memorial Elementary Schools also provide fruit & vegetable snacks to students at no charge.
Fresh Picks Café is proud to present our Smart Snacks line of healthier packaged snack, beverage, and homemade snack options. Visit the nutrition website and watch for details and news flashes on exciting new programs.
2.) ALL MEALS ARE FREE – WITH YOUR HELP! Through a program funded by the state of Massachusetts our school district will again be offering meals to all students at no charge. As a part of this funding program, we need to collect meal benefit applications from all students. These meal applications will enable us to receive the proper state funding and will help ensure that the funding lasts all school year. Please contact your school administrative office or the food service director to obtain an application.
All students are entitled to a full meal from any of our stations at breakfast and at lunch for no charge. Snack items such as snack milk or snacks are available to all students for an additional charge.
3.) Automated Point of Sale System: The Winchendon School District has an automated point of sale system from Nutrikids. Students must have funds on their account or cash in hand to purchase snack items. Parents will have 2 methods to fund their student’s account.
Option 1. Online Payments - You may set up an online account to use a credit or debit card to prepay for your child’s purchases. The system allows you to view your child’s purchase history, receive low balance alerts and more! Instructions for setting up your online account are available in print from your Food Service Director and posted on the nutrition website.
Option 2. You may send a check with your child, made payable to the Winchendon Schools Lunch Program. Please make sure to include the child’s name in the memo line. Cash can also be accepted but is discouraged at the elementary school level.
Prepaid monies deposited by either method can be used for any purchases in the cafeteria, but at any time parents may contact the school food service supervisor and request that limits be placed on student purchasing.
4.) Student Allergy / Special Needs Identification: If your student has a medically documented food allergy or special need when it comes to food, your food service director will work closely with the school nurse and other personnel to ensure that your child’s specific needs are met. Please visit the allergens page on your school district’s nutrition website to learn how to access allergen information online and/or to contact the Fresh Picks Café Dietitian Team.
Nutrition Website!
Our food service program now has a nutrition website loaded with information about our program as well as our interactive, online menus. Visit our website for:
Menus – including allergen and nutritional information
“New in the Café” special events and promotions
Information on managing your student’s food service account
Contact information for our managers and dietitians
Alerts and notices about any changes to the food service program
And so much more! Visit the website!
https://www.fdmealplanner.com/#Winchendon
Winchendon School District Food Service Director:
Stacie Merrifield: Winchendon@freshpickscafe.com
In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
1. mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
2. fax: (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
3. email: program.intake@usda.gov
This institution is an equal opportunity provider
