About

The Central Kitchen operates the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), a federally funded program that provides meals and snacks served to children in child care settings. The Central Kitchen plans prepare and deliver food, food service, and janitorial supplies to all 43 child development centers operated by CAPK’s Head Start/State Preschool Division.

The kitchen currently serves 43 sites throughout Kern County. During the year the Central Kitchen provides over 900,000 meals to approximately 2,400 children enrolled in Head Start, Early Head Start, and State pre-school programs. The program also prepares meals for Head Start field trips and social events. Deliveries are made by a team of eleven Food Production Drivers Mondays through Friday

The Central Kitchen provides special meals to accommodate food allergies and special dietary needs. The menus incorporate a variety of cultural and ethnic preferences and are designed to give the children a broader food experience.

Menus comply with Head Start requirements and CACFP guidelines. The Central Kitchen receives input from children, parents, staff, and community members at the Nutrition Advisory Committee meetings for developing menus. The Central Kitchen is inspected periodically by Kern County Public Health Services Department. We have received an “A” rating on all of the inspections and are considered a model for cleanliness and protocol.

The Central Kitchen strives to provide the best service possible to all Head Start centers within the CAPK agency.