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Bringing Back Local: How Springfield Is Revolutionizing School Lunch, One Pizza at a Time

In Springfield, Massachusetts, a simple slice of pizza is doing more than filling trays – it’s fueling a shift toward healthier students, stronger local economies, and a more resilient regional food system.

With support from a 2023 Kendall Foundation grant, Home Grown Springfield, the district’s school nutrition program, and One Mighty Mill, a mission-driven mill and bakery in Lynn, MA, have reimagined what school pizza can be. Together, they’ve developed a new recipe that prioritizes fresh, local ingredients – and earned the approval of the most important critics: the students.

Student-Approved and Locally Grown

Taste tests and surveys in five Springfield schools reached more than 800 students, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive: 94% preferred the new Home Grown pizza over the previous version. Students praised the flavor and were excited to learn that their lunch featured locally milled flour, regionally sourced cheese, and tomatoes grown nearby.

More than just a meal, this pizza became a conversation starter about food systems, health, and sustainability.

A Fresh Approach to School Meals

To create the crust, One Mighty Mill collaborated with Elie Baking Corp in Brockton, MA to scale up production using freshly stone-milled flour. Commonwealth Kitchen in Dorchester processed local tomatoes for the sauce, and mozzarella from Narragansett Creamery in Narragansett, RI now tops every slice. The team also invested in nutritional testing, kitchen training, and the development of educational materials to tell the story behind the pizza.

In November 2024, a custom-built stone mill was installed at the district’s Culinary and Nutrition Center, allowing students to see – and touch – the process of turning whole grains into flour for the pizzas and bagels they eat in school.

Learning That Starts with Lunch

As part of Springfield Public Schools’ “Portrait of a Graduate” initiative, fifth-grade students from Kensington Elementary participated in a pilot field trip to the Culinary and Nutrition Center. There, they milled wheat, made dough from scratch, explored composting and the nutrient cycle, and built their own pizzas using the same ingredients served across the district.

The hands-on experience brought food systems education to life and created meaningful connections between students and the meals they eat every day.

A Slice of What’s Possible

The Home Grown Pizza initiative has had a ripple effect far beyond Springfield’s lunchrooms. It has strengthened local partnerships and set a new standard for what school meals can look like when they reflect local values and priorities.

With more nutritious, locally sourced meals, a growing network of regional food suppliers, and student engagement at its core, Springfield is proving that good food can be good for everyone – and that a better school lunch is just the beginning.