All-School Picnic Kicks Off CA’s (Culinary) School Year

Like it does everywhere, good food brings Colorado Academy together. That is especially apparent at the annual All-School Picnic, the beloved tradition that kicks off every school year a day or two before the official “First Day.”

At around five o’clock on the appointed afternoon (weather permitting), students and their families begin gathering in CA’s central Sculpture Garden, where tables decked with red-checked cloths create a festive air. While parents and caregivers reintroduce themselves, classmates hug and high-five to celebrate being back on campus again. Upper Schoolers claim their own tables to catch up on the summer’s happenings; Lower Schoolers chase each other to the playground to slide, swing, and twirl; and Middle Schoolers meander in small groups as they take it all in.

But before too long, guests make their way toward the big tents set up near CA’s Dining Hall, where Director of Food Service Paul Worley and his Sodexo team have laid out a spread of picnic classics that’s remained the same for decades.

With around a thousand guests eager to partake each year, the numbers are impressive: 600 hot dogs, 600 bratwursts, 500 burgers, 130 pounds of watermelon, 40 pounds of pasta salad, and 600 popsicles for dessert. That’s not to mention the dozens of bottles of ketchup and mustard on hand, the hundreds of gallons of lemonade consumed by children and adults alike, or the thousands of compostable napkins that help keep hands clean.

The annual get-together seems like a relatively simple thing, a one-off designed to satisfy and entertain before “real” school begins. But for Worley and the rest of the Food Service crew, it’s the first of many magical moments that reveal why dining at CA is such a special experience—one that students and families look forward to all year long.

Executive Chef Kaitlynn Freeman, who joined the Sodexo team at CA just this year after serving in the same role for Denver International Airport’s high-end airline lounges, observes, “Everyone here takes a certain responsibility for something, whether it’s the grill or the smoker or the homemade barbecue sauce. For all of us, food is our baby.”

Having already had the chance to witness several food-focused summer events such as the All-School Picnic, Freeman continues, “When I first came to Chef Paul’s kitchen to do my stage”—pronounced “stahzh,” the French word is the specialized term for a practical, hands-on culinary interview—“one of the things I noticed right away was how much he talked about his team: not only who they are personally, but who they are professionally. That showed me there’s a lot of integrity in this kitchen. So now I get that when everyone talks so highly of what we serve here at CA, that’s because Chef Paul is the kind of leader who elevates everything we do.”

In his 21 years at CA, Worley has transformed the dining experience from run-of-the-mill to best-of-the-best: At lunchtime, students, faculty, and staff can choose from vegan and vegetarian options, elegant protein bowls and wraps, dozens of choices in the huge showcase of a salad bar, homemade soups, burgers and grilled cheese, a rotating gourmet pizza selection, the order-your-own-sandwich station, traditional hot lunch items such as chicken tenders and meatballs, or even the “home cooking” counter, where CA’s chefs offer up globally-inspired specialties such as chipotle pork carnitas and house-smoked brisket.

Worley mentions one of the CA kitchen’s biggest recent home-cooking hits—birria tacos served for faculty and staff during a summer professional development day—and explains, “That’s all Ruben Mendoza.” Formerly part of the five-star kitchen at the Brown Palace Hotel and Spa, Mendoza, Worley says, spends 12 hours braising the beef for his specialty tacos, which are served with onions, cilantro, and lime along with a side of the flavorful braising broth.

The team takes a similar satisfaction in catering high-profile events for supporters of the school, the Board of Trustees, and special visitors. Seeing the elegant canapés, grilled meats, mousses, and other delights on offer, many guests believe CA calls in an outside company to handle these events. Worley loves informing anyone who will listen that it’s his own Sodexo kitchen team that rises to seemingly any occasion. 

“I believe in empowering my staff to use their strengths; it means everything we serve is authentic,” emphasizes Worley. “Sometimes we call it ‘Paul’s Kitchen for Wayward Chefs,’ because everyone here has something they love to do—smoke brisket or whip up Creole jerk chicken, even fix a broken beurre blanc for a catered Board dinner—and at the same time everyone has the humility to make a Second Grader a turkey-and-cheese sandwich.”

With degrees from the Culinary Institute of America and the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, respectively, Worley and Freeman certainly count themselves among the “wayward,” not only because of their extensive education and experience, but also because of the unexpected rewards that come with thinking about and serving authentic, high-quality food to a daily audience that ranges in age from 5 to 65 and beyond.

Freeman recalls one of her early experiences in CA’s kitchen: trying to offer lunch to a very picky summer camper. “This was a little kid who was so nervous to be at camp for the first time,” she recounts. “We looked at all the choices, and I finally got him to take some rice and beans. And as he left the Dining Hall that day, he turned around and gave me the sweetest look that said ‘thank you.’ All for a bowl of rice and beans.”

Anticipating the needs of diners of all ages has become a specialty of the team, notes Worley. Young parents or those new to the school are especially pleased to learn about CA’s understanding of food allergies, he says, and the accommodations and substitutions that are readily available to them just by asking.

With tainted iceberg lettuce and other produce in the news all summer, he adds, food safety is yet another area of expertise and constant attention. Every food item in the kitchen is accounted for through a computerized inventory that’s synced with Sodexo’s global management system, so when a concern comes up with a supplier’s ingredient, CA knows well before the local press. 

That’s why Worley is certain CA’s lettuce supply was not affected by the contamination issues that occurred throughout the Midwest over the summer. That’s right, he wants to remind families: Everything in CA’s salad bar is perfectly safe, just like all food that emerges from the immaculate, state-of-the-art kitchen. 

Says Freeman of her new workplace, “This is the best program I’ve ever experienced. To be here and see that every day is all hands on deck from everybody—I’m in love.”

“What I love seeing is the independence, for the employees as well as the kids,” Worley chimes in. “When you’re a chef and something inspires you, then I say we can work with that. And when you’re a kid eating grilled cheese for lunch every day—maybe you’ll stick with what’s familiar at first, but you’ll be exposed to cuisines from around the world here, and eventually your palate will graduate to other flavors.”

And then, once his diners leave CA as actual graduates and head to the next big thing in their lives, they’ll write Worley letters that always end with the same signoff: “Thank you for the amazing food!”

more photos from the All-School Picnic