Growing up in California in what he calls a “foodie family,” Zac Dwight learned early about the bond created between people sharing a meal.
“All of our family time revolved around family cooking,” Zac says. “It was always part of our gatherings.”
Zac moved to Colorado in 2001, living with his cousin and working in restaurants while enjoying skateboarding and creating art. He got a job working in the kitchen at The Vault in Fort Collins, where the owner was supportive of Zac attending culinary school in Boulder during his employment.
“I ended up running that restaurant,” Zac said of his job at The Vault, recalling how the generous gesture by the boss in his first kitchen allowed him to have a career as a chef. “People should be more kind. If you can go out of your way for somebody, it might make a huge difference in someone’s life.”
Zac Dwight’s first cooking job and his culinary school education were the start of more than 15 years spent cooking in restaurants, working as an executive sous chef in a fancier fine-dining establishment, being the executive chef in a family-style restaurant, and helping to open brand new restaurants in northern Colorado, among other chef positions. When cooking at a local dinner theater, he learned about cooking banquet-style food, and how to serve large numbers of diners in a short period of time.
During this time, Zac also experienced some other major milestones in his life: getting married and having a son. As the years went by, Zac began to recognize something very significant about what it took to be a successful chef.
“I realized I picked the worst career ever for wanting to be with my family,” he said. “I was trying to learn different things and also cater to a better work-life balance. That’s not a thing when you’re working in restaurants.”
Zac was working exhaustingly long days and feeling like he was missing out on some of the things that were most important to him. Having grown up with a mom who had a decades-long career as a teacher, Zac realized that the more relaxed schedule of working for a school district might be exactly what he needed.
“I love being around kids and being a positive role model,” Zac says. “There’s a lot of kids who need that and don’t have that at home.”
So Zac Dwight accepted a position with Thompson School District, where he learned the ropes working in the kitchen at Lucile Erwin Middle School. Now, he serves as the Site Lead and a Production Lead in the LEMS kitchen, which not only serves meals to the students at LEMS but also prepares food for five schools in total. While the schedule is much more forgiving, working in a school kitchen comes with its own set of challenges.
“It takes a certain person to work with the kids and build rapport with them,” Zac says. “The kids, you can make little breakthroughs with them. Maybe a kid has never talked to you, and all of a sudden, they’re like, hey, you’re cool.”
Lisa Kendall, Director of TSD’s Nutrition Services, says Zac’s unique background is a great asset for the Nutrition Services team.
“Zac joined the team shortly before the pandemic, so he, along with the entire team, has seen lots of changes to our program. He comes from the restaurant world and brings a strong culinary background,” Lisa says. “I love the diverse makeup of our team and all of the expertise and perspective that brings to the table.”
For Zac, working for the district has given him more time to spend with his family and do other things he loves, such as volunteering for the Food Bank for Larimer County and being a part of the Thompson Valley Art League.
In the meantime, he is doing something he loves while making a difference in students’ lives.
“That’s the big thing a lot of people don’t realize about working in Nutrition Services; we are teaching these kids a lot of skills,” Zac Dwight says. “People tend to downgrade the importance of what we do, but there’s a lot of kids that need food and a lot of kids that need people in their lives.”