Lulu Cohen-Farnell and David Farnell must have the healthiest kids on the planet -- and their mission is to spread that health to as many kids in the GTA as possible. As owners of Real Food For Real Kids (RFRK), a manufacturing and catering company that provides freshly made, nutritious, tasty lunches and snacks to daycares and elementary schools, this dynamic couple see to it that more than five thousand children eat as well as their own two kids.

RFRK offers daycare centres lunch and two snacks -- providing kids with 75% of their food needs -- for only $4.50 per day. The elementary school program features a 20-day rotating menu for at least fifty children, served by RFRK lunch coaches. The "lunch and learn" atmosphere allows the coaches to teach the kids about the health benefits of the ingredients. Accommodations are made for children with allergies; for instance, RFRK makes their own gluten-free bread. Children bring their own containers, which they take home to wash and reuse. An omnivore lunch is $5.25, an herbivore lunch is $5.00 and a value lunch, made to fulfill the Toronto District School Board's  specifications of vegetables, proteins and grains amounts, is $4. 

"This is only about 5-10% more expensive than regular caterers with their processed foods," David explains. Added to that are the two vital elements of food service: ensuring the food is safely stored, shipped and served; and monitoring the food's provenance by checking that the food is ethically grown, locally produced and uses animals that are grain fed.

As they talk about the progression of their company -- from preparing snacks for twelve hundred kids in 12 Toronto daycares in 2005 to the current nine elementary schools, 120 daycares and camps -- they never mention profits. Instead, they talk about values, education, sharing, contribution, sustainability, passion and changing lives.

It all started with Max, their first child, now seven. When it came time to send him to daycare, Lulu found they all served "kids food" -- poor quality, highly processed foods, heavy in salt and fat, lacking nutrients and taste.

"Growing up in my family, everybody ate the same food, which was whatever my mom and grandmother made," she said. "As kids, we participated in making the food, it was a sacred thing to share food and eat at the table and talk. We knew the origins of the food."

Once she decided on a daycare she asked if she could bring her own food and packed Max's lunch full of items like legumes, ragout, rice, quinoa, buckwheat, rice cakes -- all organic and healthy. When the teachers noticed other kids wanted to share they asked her for her recipes. However, the supply chain in place at most daycares makes it too expensive for them to veer into organic, whole food territory so instead they asked her to come up with some recipes for snack foods.

Rather than just providing them with lists of ingredients and recipes, she created snack menus and sourced and coordinated local suppliers for them. "I worked night and day," Lulu says. "It was definitely bigger than me!" The healthy snacks caught on, demand spread to other parents and daycares and Lulu quit her job at a brand design company to dedicate herself fulltime to researching suppliers, developing recipes, cooking and catering full lunches. Finally, she realized she needed a kitchen. By this time, David had quit his job in business development at Torstar and they hired a cook and driver. Business was growing rapidly, they mortgaged their house twice, took out loans, dedicated days and nights to the burgeoning company and finally graduated to a bigger building and hired more staff.

Walking into the Real Food for Real Kids kitchen on Dovercourt Road, one thing is abundantly clear: this is a warm and welcoming place to be. With an air of camaraderie, their staff of fifty-five are busy cleaning up after the day's lunch preparations.

"We hire people who share our values," Lulu explains. "We want to empower people through education and awareness, whether it's our staff, the daycare directors, the principles or the parents and the kids."

Education, outreach and charity are key words for RFRK. Parents who want to introduce an RFRK lunch program into their child's school can arrange a presentation to other parents, the principal, teachers and caterers of the school and decide if it's right for them. As well, RFRK provides educational workshops and farm field trips. Lulu and David sit on advisories and contribute strategy for healthy eating in schools, they've contributed expertise to the Toronto Food Policy Council and worked on a Heart & Stroke Foundation campaign for children's health. They also work with Local Food Plus, a non-profit organization which links restaurants and large scale caterers like universities, to local food growers.

Although the germ of the RFRK idea began with Lulu, there's no question that this is a team that works well together. David describes their company as a natural progression of their marriage. When asked about their areas of responsibility they agree to list each other's rather than their own. "She's the cart and I'm the horse," he says. "Lulu's the visionary. She decides everything connected with the food; the suppliers, the menu, the recipe development." She also looks after branding, a skill developed in her prior career. Outreach to compatible organizations and education is also in her purview. "David created the business model," says Lulu, "he oversees operations, finance, purchasing, and finds ways to run a sustainable company." He adds, "I figure out how to marry logistics, delivery and manufacturing with our goals; kids eating healthy food and developing a taste for healthy food."

Now entering its sixth year in business, RFRK has one more badge of honour, a charitable component. Since just last September, a program called Real Food Forward, which collects donations from parents, and businesses like TD Bank and The Big Carrot, has fed over 1400 children for free. This program is currently in the pilot stage in nine schools (principals identify children in need). David calls this their sharing program and says "going forward there will be thousands of free lunches!"

"We blazed this trail when we rethought a business model for school menus that was working in the entirely opposite direction," says David.  "We based it all on our values, and we've never had to compromise on them. That it's now profitable means we're able to have a better life, and provide our suppliers a better life. It's hard to describe how great it feels to have your own values confirmed."

Lulu adds, "When I hear about how people are inspired by what we're doing, that they've changed the way they cook and eat at home, then I think there's no limit to what we'll do."

Carla Lucchetta is a Toronto-based writer and television producer.