Recipes Built for the Pan, Easy to Scale
A working session with CIA's Assistant Director of Consulting on writing recipes that scale without guesswork, and a first look at getting them tested by the Collective before they hit your menu rotation.
An egg. Both credit.
you actually cook in
not servings
Written for 100, cooked in a pan that holds 48
Most K-12 recipes are written for 50 to 100 servings, but that doesn't work well when your hotel pan holds 48. Sharon Schaefer, Assistant Director of CIA Consulting School Foodservice Programming, writes recipes differently. A slice of bread and an egg each carry a known meal-pattern credit, so if you know what's going into the pan, you already know what the finished dish credits as: no calculation required, just build the recipe for the pan size and multiply how many pans for service.
The conversation continues after the session ends, inside the Collective: post a recipe you're working on, and two other kitchens help you test it, so it reaches “standardized” faster than one director working alone.
What we'll cover
- Writing to the pan. How to use known meal-pattern credits, and standard pan sizes, to write and test recipes efficiently.
- The stages of recipe development. Sharon's framework for taking a recipe from idea to something that's ready for your menu.
- Get it standardized, together. How the Collective's community, not just one director, gets a new recipe to three matching test runs, after the session ends.
- Q&A and community. Live conversation with Sharon. Stay as long as you want.
Who you'll hear from
Sharon Schaefer
She oversees program design, client engagement, and strategic growth for CIA Consulting's K-12 initiatives. As a CIA graduate and previous school foodservice director, she has leveraged her culinary skills to help move to scratch swiftly and thoughtfully onto school menus.
Register now to join the conversation
Tuesday, September 30, 2026 · Two live runs: 2:00 PM ET and 2:00 PM PT
You'll get a confirmation with the join link and a calendar add right away, plus reminders before we go live.