An alum of Noma in Copenhagen, Dan Giusti is on a mission to transform institutional cooking - but getting fellow chefs to buy in hasn't been easy.
At the Dream Mott Haven charter school this summer, more than a hundred food-service professionals lined up in the cafeteria to enjoy a school lunch prepared by the culinary team from Brigaid.
Some attendees giggled like schoolchildren as they carried fire-engine-red trays filled with plates of scratch-made pernil, fried plantains and arroz con gandules through the lunchroom, taking seats at the long cafeteria tables and commiserating with strangers like the first day of school. A kale caesar side salad and diced fresh watermelon ensured that the meal met US Department of Agriculture nutrition guidelines; according to a panel discussion before lunch, it also met strict budgetary guidelines - with ingredients totaling a mere $2.71 per meal.
The cheffed-up school lunch was served as part of the inaugural Brigaid Summit, a two-day symposium in the Bronx dedicated to food issues and advocacy. Earlier that day, the company's affable founder, Dan Giusti, dissected the cost of each ingredient and explained why placing professional chefs in school kitchens helps them make the most out of their meager budgets. Every penny matters when the federal reimbursement rate for school lunches is only $4.62 per meal served, which must also cover labor costs, supplies and other operational expenses. In the United States, 30 million students from more than 100,000 schools participate in the National School Lunch Program, which serves almost 5bn meals annually. According to Brigaid, the average student consumes more than 2,000 school lunches from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Giusti began cooking professionally at age 15, eventually rising up the ranks to run the kitchens at such formidable restaurants as 1789 and Old Ebbitt Grill in Washington DC. After spending three years in Copenhagen as executive chef of Noma - considered by many to be the best restaurant in the world - he left fine dining 10 years ago to start Brigaid, a for-profit company dedicated to improving food service programs in public schools, hospitals, prisons, assisted living facilities and other institutions. Since then, his company has expanded to 80 employees, including a stable of 75 professional chefs working across 45 partnerships in eight states. But despite the company's growth, Giusti says the biggest impediment to recruiting talent continues to be convincing professional chefs that there are worthwhile culinary opportunities outside of the restaurant industry.
"For whatever reason, a lot of chefs don't even associate working in an institution as a viable profession," he said.
During his tenure at Noma, the restaurant retained its two-star Michelin rating and topped the World's 50 Best Restaurants list multiple years. But feeding the community became a higher calling, one that made Giusti question why so many chefs define success by restaurant awards and critical reception.
His message has inspired former restaurant chefs on his culinary team - many of whom defected from fine dining careers to join Brigaid.
"I grew up on the free lunch program, so there's a big part that really resonates for me," said Mai Giffard, a program chef with the Central school district in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Before enlisting with Brigaid in 2023, Giffard owned her own bakery and worked in top Michelin-starred kitchens, including at Smyth in Chicago. "With fine dining, you're cooking for such a small percentage of people that can afford to eat in such restaurants. With Brigaid, I’m able to reach thousands and thousands of kids."
To attract talent, Brigaid’s starting salaries for chefs exceed that of most restaurants - averaging around $90,000 a year with full benefits for program chefs, commensurate with experience (health insurance, paid sick leave and retirement benefits are still rarities in the restaurant world). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for chefs and head cooks in 2024 was $60,990 per year. As a result, most professional chefs are transient, bouncing from one restaurant job to the next to acquire new skills and build their resumes but rarely staying in one place.
"Something that frustrates me about the restaurant industry is that I don't think there's much opportunity to develop people beyond cooking," said Giusti. "Cooking in a school or an institution might not make you a better cook, but it makes you a better chef, a better leader and a better professional."
Nicole Meschi is senior director of nutrition services for the Cupertino Union school district in California, which is entering its third year as a Brigaid client. She said: “Imagine going to a restaurant and all 600 people for the night show up at the same time and you have 30 minutes to feed them. I think that’s one of the most shocking parts for the chefs who come here.”
Alex Leigh, a regional chef with the New London, Connecticut, public school system since 2018, agreed that there’s a learning curve. Coming from top restaurant groups like Tom Colicchio’s Crafted Hospitality, he stressed that it takes time to adjust to the pace and rhythm of school kitchens. “If chefs try to come in and make this space into a restaurant, as opposed to adapting and using those skills and organizational pieces that they have,” he said.
While the needs of each individual school district differ, a Brigaid chef’s primary role is to support an existing team of cafeteria workers. For former restaurant chefs accustomed to pursuing perfection, working alongside cooks of varying degrees of skill can be daunting but also enlightening. “The things I want to cook have changed,” said Octavio Gaytan, an Austin-based training chef who joined Brigaid in 2021. “Now, I want to cook things that I know kids will get excited about”, as well as uncommon school menu dishes such as butter chicken or kimchi.
With Brigaid’s help, New London’s public schools have shifted away from serving frozen processed foods to all-scratch cooking, including developing the roast pork recipe that was served at the Summit in July. Last year, the district signed a five-year extension with Brigaid to provide continued support for the six district kitchens that serve approximately 3,000 students a day - an expenditure that comprises 3% of the district’s total annual food budget. “It was a very intentional, conscious decision that we made knowing that we are going to continue to carve out money in our budget because of the value that it brings to the district and to our program,” said Samantha Wilson, child nutrition program director in New London.
Escaping the intense pressure of restaurants has afforded many Brigaid chefs the opportunity to reflect on their former careers and reconsider their priorities. “I’m making the most [money] I’ve ever made,” said Froiyasandra Cabrera,a San Diego-based chef who oversees multiple school districts across California. “I actually have health insurance that I don’t have to pay for,and I get holidays off.I’ve never had a holiday off.”
Giffard,the Rancho Cucamonga chef,summed it up well:“The job has freed up a lot of my mental capacity to be a part of the community and to have hobbies again.Now I don’t have to fight as hard to choose between hobbies or sleep.”
These epiphanies make the prospect of returning to fine dining nearly impossible for most tenured chefs in the organization.“To me now,succes is about finding where you’re meant to work,”said Leigh.“As much as I love restaurants and I’m indebted to them for where I am today,I can’t see a world where I could go back again.”