Pre conference Tours

June 21, 2023, 1:00 - 4:00 pm

Loffredo Foods

This tour will begin at the main Loffredo’s building to view the various temp controlled coolers, look at some products and view our 7 banana ripening rooms. Members will then travel a few miles to their fresh cut facility Produce innovations which will include how product is staged, assembled, scanned by metal detectors and packaged. Viewing the assortment of processing machines, melon peelers, potato peelers, and the two Triangle machines that bag all of our single serves.

*This tour requires no jewelry to be worn and only closed shoes to follow their food safety procedures. - no exceptions.

Anderson Erickson Dairy

Come tour Anderson Erickson Dairy (AE Dairy) and see first hand how they have been ensuring delicious dairy products since 1938. AE Dairy is committed to consistent quality and innovation. They are passionate about their products so come and see how the items you serve in your schools are prepared.

*This tour requires no jewelry to be worn and only closed shoes to follow their food safety procedures. - no exceptions.

Waukee CSD Food Service Department

Visit one of the newest, most innovative kitchens in the state, Waukee Northwest High School Kitchen. Learn about kitchen design, trends in the K-12 industry, new equipment ideas and ways to market your program. Questions such as “what can a combi oven do?”, “what is a blast chiller?”, “what is a good way to display refrigerated a la carte items?”, “how does a Classroom Treat program work?”, “how do I start a coffee shop?” and more will be answered in this fun, interactive and educational tour. Snacks provided. This is a chance for SNAI Members to learn about various pieces of equipment that can benefit their kitchen(s) as well as ways to boost program participation.

Waukee Schools has a growing Farm to School program that is “Cultivating opportunities for students and the community to interact with the local food system”. In this portion of the tour, you will get to visit an outdoor garden at Shuler Elementary School and our indoor tower gardens. You will learn about partnership development, grant management, curriculum connection development, and local food purchasing. Starting a Farm to School program can be as simple as serving apples on Iowa Local Food Day or building a full program that connects cafeteria to classroom to gardens, so join us to learn more!

Des Moines Public CSD Food Service Department

Des Moines Public Schools offers meal services to 30,000 students every day. Come and see where 7,200 gallons of mac and cheese, 40,000 pounds of taco meat and too many bakery products to count are made each year! Put on a hair net and get the full tour. The DMPS Food & Nutrition team members at the Central Nutrition Center juggle more than 200,000 pounds of bananas and 600,000 apples, not to mention 8,750 pounds of flour and 20,000 muffins each month! Yes, there will be samples!!! The tour includes: Warehousing, Production, and Distribution. A final stop at a school serving location to learn how staff members use the CNC products in service to our customers.