Latest / The Side Hustle Career Podcast with Fexingo: Second Income, Freelancing While Employed / How a School Cafeteria Manager Built a 16K Side Hustle in Menu Consulting
Transcript
- Lucas: So we get a lot of questions from listeners who say, 'I've worked one job for years — is there any way to turn that specific, niche experience into a side hustle without going back to school?' And today's episode is a great answer to exactly that. Luna: I love when we find stories that aren't the usual 'graphic designer launches brand strategy' or 'software engineer teaches coding.' Lucas: Right. Today's guest is Michele Ortiz. For 20 years, she was a cafeteria manager in the Las Cruces Public School district in New Mexico. She managed breakfast and lunch for three elementary schools, oversaw a staff of eight, and dealt with USDA nutrition guidelines, budget constraints, and picky kids every single day. Luna: And she turned that into a $16,000-a-month side hustle? Lucas: Yeah, that's the headline. She now runs a menu consulting business for small charter schools, daycare centers, and summer camps. She charges a flat fee of $2,500 per school per semester, and she currently has six clients on retainer — so about $15,000 a month, plus occasional project work. Luna: That's wild. But when you think about it, who else understands the constraints of school food better than someone who's actually done it? Not a nutritionist with a textbook — someone who's ordered 500 pounds of chicken tenders on a budget. Lucas: Exactly. And Michele's first client came from a cold email. She sent a one-paragraph note to the principal of a local charter school that had just opened. Said something like, 'I've been managing school cafeterias for two decades. I can help you build a menu that meets USDA requirements, keeps kids happy, and doesn't blow your budget.' Luna: Did the principal even know they needed that service? Lucas: Apparently not. But the charter school had been outsourcing lunch to a vendor and the food was terrible — kids were throwing it away. The principal was frustrated. Michele offered a free 30-minute menu audit, and that led to a paid pilot. Luna: So what's actually in that audit? Walk me through it. Lucas: She looks at three things. First, compliance with the USDA's National School Lunch Program guidelines — are they meeting the required servings of fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and milk? Second, cost per meal — she benchmarks against the national average of about $3.80 for elementary schools. Third, kid appeal — she literally goes into the cafeteria during lunch and watches what gets eaten and what gets tossed. Luna: So she's doing ethnographic research. That's smart. Lucas: Yeah, and from that audit, she creates a customized menu cycle — usually a six-week rotation — with recipes that are scaled for institutional kitchens. She also provides a procurement list: exactly what to buy, from which distributors, and how much to order. Luna: And she doesn't need a food science degree for this. She just knows, from experience, that if you serve a black bean burger on a Tuesday, the kids won't touch it, but if you call it a 'BBQ bean patty' and serve it with cornbread, it works. Lucas: That's exactly her insight. She told me her biggest contribution is 'translating nutrition into something a seven-year-old will actually eat.' And that has real value. A charter school that loses 30 percent of its lunches to waste is literally throwing away money. Luna: So her pricing — $2,500 per school per semester. How did she land on that? Lucas: She said she started at $1,500 and realized she was underselling herself. The work takes about 10 to 15 hours per client per semester — initial audit, menu design, one follow-up visit. At $2,500, that's roughly $165 to $250 an hour. And for the school, it's a fraction of what they'd spend on a consultant from a big food service management company. Luna: Right, those companies charge $500 an hour easy. And they don't know the local kids. Lucas: Exactly. Now, the part that made the business really take off was referrals. After her first two clients, she offered every client a free 30-minute menu audit for any other school they recommended. That generated three more clients in six months. Luna: So she's giving away a limited version of her service — the audit — but that's what hooks people. That's a classic lead-gen strategy. Lucas: It is. And it works because the audit immediately surfaces problems. She shows them, 'You're overpaying for pre-shredded cheese. If you buy blocks and shred them in-house, you save 12 cents per pound.' That kind of concrete savings speaks for itself. Luna: And she's not just a consultant — she's also a vendor liaison. She knows the distributors, the co-ops, the seasonal produce schedules. That's another layer of value. Lucas: Right. One thing she does that I think is replicable: she built a simple spreadsheet that any school can use to calculate their cost per meal. She shares that as a free download on her website. It's not a huge lead magnet, but it's practical. And it positions her as the expert. Luna: So if someone listening is a cafeteria manager or a food service worker with years of experience — what's the first step you'd recommend? Lucas: Start with the audit. Offer it for free to one local charter school or daycare. Do it in person, take notes, and then present your findings. If the school sees value, you have your first client. If not, you've got a case study to show the next one. Luna: And keep it simple. Don't try to be a full-service food consultant overnight — just focus on menu planning and procurement. That's enough. Lucas: And you know, it's funny — we talk about side hustles on this show all the time, and the ones that really work are often the most unexpected. Who would have thought 'school lunch menu consultant' could be a $16,000-a-month business? Luna: But that's exactly the point. The experience you think is just 'my day job' might actually be a hidden expertise someone else is willing to pay for. Lucas: Speaking of which — we deliberately keep this show ad-free. No sponsors, no commercials. And that's a choice we've made from day one because we want the content to be purely useful. If you've found value in episodes like this one, and you want to support that choice, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just an option. Luna: Yeah, listener support is what keeps this going. Every contribution helps us keep the episodes coming without interrupting for ads. Lucas: Alright — back to Michele. One thing that surprised me: she said the hardest part wasn't the consulting work itself, but setting boundaries. Because she's still working full-time as a cafeteria manager. Her side hustle evenings and weekends. She had to learn to say no to clients who wanted same-day responses. Luna: That's a common theme in a lot of our episodes. The side hustle can consume your life if you let it. Lucas: Right. So she set a rule: she only does client calls on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 PM. Emails get answered within 24 hours, but not instantly. And she has a standard contract that clearly states deliverables and timeline. That protects her time and also sets professional expectations. Luna: And she's not trying to scale to 50 clients. She's happy with 6. That brings in $15,000 to $16,000 a month on top of her salary, which is life-changing but not overwhelming. Lucas: Exactly. That's the sweet spot. She told me, 'I don't want to be a food empire. I want to help a few schools and have enough to pay off my mortgage early.' That's a very sane goal. Luna: So what's one takeaway for our listeners who might be in similar institutional roles — custodians, office managers, library assistants? Is there a consulting model here? Lucas: I think the template is: identify a specific pain point in your current industry — something you deal with every day that outsiders don't understand. Then package your solution as a fixed-fee service. Offer a free audit to prove value. Leverage referrals. And keep it small enough that you can do it alongside your day job. Luna: And don't underestimate the power of a cold email. Michele's first client came from a single paragraph. Lucas: Yeah, that one email changed her financial life. So if you've been sitting on an idea, maybe today's the day to send that email. Luna: Good advice. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. And thanks to Michele Ortiz for sharing her story. We'll link to her free cost per meal spreadsheet in the show notes.