Food Service Programs for Schools, Daycares and Care Facilities in Chicagoland
Most food service companies fit you into their model. We build a custom program around your headcount, your schedule, your dietary needs and your budget, cooked from scratch in our kitchen.
A trained Frato’s chef runs your account and your daily operations. Not a sales rep. Not a different cook every week.
Or call: (847) 895-2122
We serve schools from Pre-K through high school, residential care settings for adults with developmental disabilities, medical and healthcare facilities, corporate accounts, and more.
Not Catering. A Program.
Catering feeds one event. A food service program feeds the same people every school or service day, so it has to be built differently.
| Catering (events) | Food service (programs) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A one-time or occasional order | A recurring meal program, every service day |
| The menu | Bars, trays and packages | A custom rotation built for your people |
| Format | Chef delivers and sets up | Packed meals or family-style pans, hot or cold-packed |
| Dietary | Labeled trays on request | Planned per person, labeled per meal |
| Who you deal with | The catering team | The chef who runs your program |
Planning a one-time event instead? See Schaumburg catering.
How We Build Your Program
No two schools or facilities have the same needs, so there is no package to pick from. Here is how it works.
A conversation
Headcount, ages, schedule, delivery and eat times, dietary needs, service format, and the budget you have in mind.
Your nutrition structure
USDA/NSLP guidelines, your own preferences, your nutritionist’s plan, or leave it to the chef.
The custom build
A two-week menu rotation to start, portions by age group, everyday backups, and a dietary path for each person who needs one. A third week is added once favorites are proven.
A non-binding agreement
With a first-week opt-out, so the risk stays on our side.
Complimentary sampling
After the agreement, you taste the program. If it is not the right fit, you can cancel.
Launch with a named chef
Your chef runs the program day to day, swaps options as favorites emerge, and is the person you call.
Who We Cook For
Each setting gets its own build. These are the programs we run today.
Therapeutic day schools
Consistency, dietary precision and a menu kids will actually eat.
Private schools, Pre-K through 12
Built to your school’s dietary guidelines, or around kid favorites: restaurant-style pizza, burgers, bowls and more. Hot lunch and breakfast, portions by age group, bagged lunches for field trips.
Daycares and early childhood centers
Small portions, soft textures and allergy paths planned per child.
Residential care and group homes
Adults with developmental disabilities. Medical diets, labeled meals, frozen weekend meals.
Treatment and behavioral health
Meals that are safe, steady and not an afterthought during a hard stretch.
Healthcare and senior living
Medical diets and the same standard every day.
Workplaces
Daily meals for teams that would rather not leave the building.
Hotels and golf courses
Scratch-cooked components your kitchen finishes on site.
Cooking for healthcare and care settings holds us to a standard of consistency, dietary precision and reliability we bring to every account.
Why a Chef Runs Your Account
We train our own chefs. Since 2013, cooks have apprenticed in our Schaumburg kitchen with no college debt, learning scratch cooking on the line. The ones who earn it move up to the food service team. We are now on our third generation of in-house trained chefs.
The chef who built your menu is the one who answers when something changes.
Chef Joe and Chef Alex lead our school programs. Every new dish needs both of their sign-off before it reaches a menu.
Read our story.
Built to Fit Your Building
Service format and dietary planning are decided with you in the first conversation, so the program fits the kitchen and the people you have.
Dietary restrictions, planned per person
Factory food arrives in fixed boxes, so most programs can only swap items off a list. We cook from scratch, so we build a separate path for each person who needs one.
- Food allergies
- Medical diets such as GERD and lactose-free
- Halal
- Vegetarian
- Soy-free
- Gluten-free and dairy-free paths
- Each meal labeled
- Nut-free food service area: no peanuts or tree nuts in food service meals
Service formats
- Individually packed meals in lidded containers, delivered hot
- Family-style pans kept hot on electric hot plates; your staff portions and serves
- Cold-packed delivery you reheat on site
- Breakfast riding along with the lunch delivery
- Twice-weekly bulk delivery with frozen, labeled meals for weekends
- Cold components packed on the side so nothing wilts
- Bagged lunches for field trip days
What a Rotation Looks Like
Examples from menus we cook today. Your rotation is built with you, and the formats kids and residents actually eat lead the way.
Comfort and kid favorites
Chicken Tenders with Mashed Potatoes · Pizza Pasta Bowl · Spaghetti & Meat Sauce · Mac & Cheese with Chicken Bites · Buttered Noodles with Chicken Bites · Creamy Dreamy Alfredo
Bowls
Taco Rice Bowl · Chicken Burrito Bowl · BBQ Bowl · Gyro Bowl with pita · Korean Bowl · Sesame Chicken with rice
Restaurant favorites
Scratch pizza · Burgers with pasta salad · Chicken Enchiladas
Everyday backups
Cold subs on Turano bread · Chicken or veggie Caesar salad · Buffalo chicken salad (dairy-free path)
Breakfast
Oatmeal · Cereal · Whole-grain bread with sunflower seed butter · Fruit · Muffins · Pancakes and waffles · English muffins · Mini bagels
Dessert
Grandma Frato’s Triple Chocolate Brownie
A Fixed-Menu Program vs. a Program Built Around You
| A fixed-menu program | Frato’s | |
|---|---|---|
| The menu | You pick from their list | ✓ Built around your people, your schedule and your budget |
| The food | Reheated from a box | ✓ Cooked from scratch in our kitchen by our chefs |
| Dietary needs | Substitutions off a list | ✓ Planned per person, labeled per meal |
| Your contact | A sales rep, then whoever is cooking | ✓ A named Frato’s chef who runs your program |
| Changes | At the next contract cycle | ✓ Options swapped as favorites emerge |
Food Service FAQ
Is this the same as catering?
No. Catering is a one-time event order: bars, trays and pans delivered and set up for a party or meeting. Food service is a recurring meal program, built for one school or facility and served every school or service day, with a custom menu rotation and a chef team held back for that program.
How is a food service program priced?
Per person, per day. Food starts around $4–$6 per person for a standard menu with pickup; customizing the menu and adding delivery raise it. Your exact price is built after we learn your headcount, schedule, service format and the budget you have in mind. Tell a chef your budget and we build the menu as close to it as we can.
Can we taste the food before we commit?
Yes. Once the program is built and a non-binding agreement is in place, we schedule a complimentary sampling. The agreement includes a first-week opt-out, so if the food is not the right fit, you can cancel.
Can you handle allergies and medical diets?
Yes. Dietary needs are planned per person, not as a substitution list: allergies, medical diets such as GERD and lactose-free, halal, vegetarian, soy-free, and gluten-free or dairy-free paths. Each meal is labeled. Food service meals are made in a nut-free area of our Schaumburg kitchen.
Do you follow USDA or NSLP nutrition guidelines?
If you need them, yes. At the start we ask which structure you follow: USDA/NSLP guidelines, your own preferences, your nutritionist’s plan, or leave it to the chef. The menu is built to that structure.
Do meals arrive hot, or do we reheat?
Either. Individually packed meals and family-style pans are delivered hot. Some schools and care settings prefer cold-packed delivery and reheat on site, which also keeps the cost down. Your chef sets the format with you.
Who do we deal with day to day?
The Frato’s chef who runs your program. Not a sales rep and not a different cook each week. Chef Joe and Chef Alex lead our school programs, and every new dish needs both of their sign-off before it reaches your menu.
Where do you serve?
Our kitchen is at 628 S. Roselle Road in Schaumburg, and we deliver programs across Chicagoland. Call (847) 895-2122 or send the inquiry form and a chef will confirm your location.
Tell a Chef About Your Program
Headcount, schedule, dietary needs and the budget you have in mind. A chef builds the program with you from there.
Call: (847) 895-2122 · Catering@FratosKitchen.com
Frato’s Personal Chef Catering & Food Service · 628 S. Roselle Road, Schaumburg, IL 60193 · Workplace meals · Daycare & early childhood · School lunch · Residential care · Treatment centers