A dairy checkoff partnership is putting hot chocolate milk into the hands of students during a pilot with a leading school foodservice company. National Dairy Council and Chartwells K12, which serves more than two million meals daily at 700 U.S. school districts, have launched the Hot Chocolate Milk program in 58 schools. Lisa Hatch, vice president of business development for National Dairy Council, said the pilot, which will run through the end of the school year, features real chocolate milk served hot during breakfast and lunch.
National Dairy Council began working with Chartwells K12 last year on a dairy-based smoothie program, which is available to all Chartwells schools following a successful pilot.
The smoothie program’s success led to a “what’s the next big thing?” discussion between the partners. They focused on hot chocolate, which had a global market size valued at $3.8 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow to $5.77 billion by 2030.
For more information about the dairy checkoff, visit www.usdairy.com/for-farmers.
