Hawai‘i Department of Education: Statewide Cafeteria Assessment

ABSTRACT

Across Hawai‘i, school kitchens are more than meal prep spaces, they are anchors where nutrition, culture, and care come together. Yet many facilities were never designed for today’s goals: serving fresh, locally sourced meals to every student, every day. In 2023, the Hawai‘i Department of Education partnered with MKThink to lead the first statewide kitchen and cafeteria assessment. Using the new Hawai‘i Kitchen Inspection Tool (HI-KIT), over 33,000 assets were evaluated across 256 campuses, providing a data-rich baseline for reform. The review flagged 41 kitchens in poor or critical condition and highlighted inefficiencies in meal production. To address this, MKThink and DOE modeled five future-ready strategies, identifying regional kitchens as the most equitable and cost-effective. This approach avoids $60M+ in scattered replacements while channeling investment to the highest-need facilities. The outcome is a defensible roadmap that aligns food service with Hawai‘i’s goal of 30% local sourcing by 2030. More importantly, it ensures every student, on every island, has access to healthy, reliable meals through a system built for equity, resilience, and care.