How FAST K-8 earned Best Schools by US News in 2024 after switching to Ordo’s meal service

The Fulton Academy of Science and Technology (FAST) had a problem with their lunch program.

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The school had been using Yay! Lunch, which primarily relied on sourcing meals from restaurant partners. As a result, the portion sizes were often not sized for kids of various ages and led to a lot of waste in some cases. The prices were also relatively high, at an average of $10 or more per meal. Additionally, they had a significant amount of meals that were ordered incorrectly, as restaurant partners tend to focus on fulfilling their in-store customers. All of this resulted in a low participation rate in the school meal program. They needed a new vendor, but they didn’t want to settle.

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When FAST initially met with Ordo, they were incredibly skeptical of new lunch programs, having been overpromised and underdelivered before. They met with Ordo’s CEO, who had actually attended Georgia Tech and lived in Atlanta for years, and questioned him on every facet of their meal service. At one point, the FAST team asked for access to Ordo’s internal admin dashboard of their platform to physically see the actual prices and structure of the menu. Dedicated to being open with their pricing and process, Ordo obliged and walked the FAST team through their platform, which surprised their team and was refreshingly transparent. Shortly after, FAST agreed to partner with the company.

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Ordo changed the game for FAST’s meal service. Ordo provided more affordable meals for their students with the quality of a private school meal service. Students had a variety of options to choose from in the menu: within a given week, they had over 10 different menu items. Students had plenty of choices and no longer kept receiving incorrect orders. Ordo’s dedication to providing fresh food made from scratch daily also proved to be a big hit with their community. The daily order rate went up by a multiple of what it was before, at least 2x.

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As a whole, switching to Ordo was part of an overall larger investment in their program. In 2024, FAST was named one of the best elementary and middle schools in Georgia by the US News and World Report.