Global Food Solutions Puts Affordable, Nutritious Meals in the Hands of U.S. Students
Opportunity and challenge often go hand-in-hand — just ask Global Food Solutions. The Hauppage, N.Y.-based food distributor found itself at the crux of enormous opportunity a decade ago when the Obama Administration tightened school food regulations for the first time in a generation.
CEO Michael Levine saw an opening to take Global Food Solutions—then a young regional company looking to make waves with a healthy, sustainable approach to mass food production—to a new level. Levine knew that the big names in the space, companies like General Mills, Kellogg's and Marriott, weren't prepared for the changes that were coming.
"There was this massive demand that was about to hit the marketplace for better nutrition products on a massive scale for the school food service industry," said Levine. "We saw this as a very unique opportunity to capitalize."
So Global Food Solutions pounced. It started adding items to its list of product SKUs, adding school districts, and forming relationships with more distribution partners. Over the next several years, it found itself expanding across the country, and today it provides lunches for more than 5,000 schools, most located in underprivileged urban areas where student lunches are subsidized by the federal government.
