Advocacy and Education Take Time
One thing I didn’t fully appreciate was the amount of effort it takes to educate stakeholders about the value of our solution. Many schools didn’t realize how inefficient their processes were until we demonstrated it. This experience taught me that advocacy — through demos, workshops, and pilot programs — is just as critical as building the product itself.
Intoday’s fast-paced world, snacking has become an essential part of our daily routine. However, not all snacks are created equal, and many options available are unhealthy. Fortunately, there are companies dedicated to creating and promoting healthy snacks and treats that are not only delicious but also nutritious. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Melissa MacMaster.
Melissa MacMaster is a visionary leader and the co-founder and CEO of Food For Thought Software Solutions, dedicated to eliminating food insecurity in our schools by ensuring every child has access to a nutritious lunch. With over a decade of experience in Atlantic Canada’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, she excels in strategic leadership, social enterprise development, and client management. Under Melissa’s leadership, the company is redefining what it means to merge technology with social good, proving that businesses can thrive while making a positive difference in the world.
Thank you so much for joining us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
Mybackstory is rooted in a deep commitment to social impact and innovation. My journey has been shaped by a diverse professional background. Before founding Food For Thought Software Solutions, I spent over seven years immersed in Atlantic Canada’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and start-up community, contributing to several successful ventures.
A particularly meaningful chapter of my story was co-founding the Global Youth Innovation Network in Benin, West Africa. This organization focuses on empowering marginalized youth to innovate their way out of poverty, combat hunger, and build healthier communities.
Through these experiences, I have developed a strong skill set, particularly in client management, which enables me to take a hands-on approach to addressing the unique needs of each of our clients at Food For Thought. At the core of everything I do is a passion for creating meaningful change, fostering innovation, and building solutions that make a real difference.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Three character traits that have been instrumental to my success are vision, resilience, and empathy.
- Vision: I’ve always had a clear sense of purpose and a drive to create innovative solutions to pressing social challenges. For example, during the pandemic, when schools closed and many children lost access to daily meals, I recognized the urgent need for a logistical solution to address food insecurity. This vision led to the creation of Food For Thought Software Solutions, which has since helped thousands of children access nutritious meals stigma-free.
- Resilience: Building a social enterprise in the midst of a global crisis required an unwavering ability to adapt and persevere through challenges. In the early days of our company, we faced logistical hurdles and the pressure of delivering results in a high-stakes environment. By staying focused and maintaining a problem-solving mindset, we successfully built and implemented a scalable platform that now supports food programs in hundreds of schools across Canada.
- Empathy: At the heart of our work lies a deep understanding of the struggles faced by families experiencing food insecurity. My hands-on approach to designing solutions for school lunch programs ensures that we address the unique needs of each school we serve. One example that stands out is when we collaborated directly with local schools and families to customize our platform. This ensured that teachers could place orders for students in need and that families and the community could make a monetary donation to the school’s lunch program. These were both practical and accessible solutions — a process that required listening, learning, and collaboration.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that might help people?
Yes, we are developing a new tool to track school meal nutrition and health outcomes to help reduce childhood obesity and chronic disease. This tool is crucial because it provides actionable insights into the nutritional impact of school meals, empowering schools and parents to make data-driven decisions that promote healthier eating habits.
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of our interview. What inspired you to focus on promoting healthy snacks and treats?
My inspiration to focus on promoting healthy food stems from a deep commitment to addressing food insecurity and improving childhood nutrition. During the early days of Food For Thought Software Solutions, we saw firsthand how many children lacked access to nutritious meals, especially during the pandemic when school closures disrupted traditional lunch programs. This experience underscored how critical it is to ensure children not only have enough to eat but are also consuming food that supports their health and development.
I’ve always believed that healthy eating should be accessible, enjoyable, and stigma-free. Snacks often get overlooked in nutrition conversations, but they play a vital role in children’s daily energy and focus. By making healthier options available and appealing, we can empower families to make better choices without sacrificing taste or convenience.
Ultimately, it’s about creating lasting change. Healthy snacks aren’t just about filling a void — they’re about fueling potential. Knowing that we can make a difference in children’s lives by helping them thrive academically and physically is what drives my passion and focus in this space.
How do you ensure that your products remain both healthy and delicious?
Our food vendors prioritize high-quality ingredients that are both nutritious and appealing. They work closely with local suppliers to source fresh, wholesome foods that meet strict nutritional guidelines, ensuring that every meal offered delivers both taste and health benefits.
We incorporate feedback from parents, teachers and children, to ensure that the lunches are not only balanced but also something kids genuinely look forward to eating. For instance, some of the food vendors adjusted recipes to include familiar flavors while maintaining nutritional integrity, making healthy food more approachable and enjoyable.
Finally, our platform offers fully customizable options, allowing families to select from a diverse range of snacks and lunches tailored to their cultural preferences, personal tastes, and specific dietary needs
What are some things you have done to educate consumers about the nutritional benefits of your products?
Educating parents about the nutritional benefits of the food offered on our platform has been a cornerstone of Food For Thought Software Solutions. We work closely with school food vendors to provide detailed nutritional information and ingredient lists for every food and drink item. This empowers parents to make informed decisions for their children. By fostering transparency, we build trust and reinforce the importance of healthy choices, making it easier for families to prioritize health in their daily lives.
Have you experienced any challenges in changing consumer perceptions about healthy snacks? How did you approach that?
Yes, we’ve encountered challenges in changing parents’ perceptions about healthy food, particularly when it comes to making nutritious options accessible and appealing without stigma. Many families associate healthy food programs with being restrictive, costly, or even charity-driven, which can create hesitancy or reluctance in using them.
First, we work with the food vendors to emphasize choice and convenience. Our platform allows families to easily order from a variety of healthy, appealing options tailored to their preferences. By providing choice, we shift the narrative from ‘healthy food as a compromise’ to ‘healthy food as a benefit.” We also implemented a ‘Pay-What-You-Can’ model to eliminate stigma. This ensures that families in need can access lunches for free and discreetly, fostering inclusivity while maintaining the integrity of the program.
Through these efforts, we’ve seen a significant shift in perception, with more families embracing our platform and ordering healthy and nutritious food for their children.
What are your ”5 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started”?
1. Advocacy and Education Take Time
One thing I didn’t fully appreciate was the amount of effort it takes to educate stakeholders about the value of our solution. Many schools didn’t realize how inefficient their processes were until we demonstrated it. This experience taught me that advocacy — through demos, workshops, and pilot programs — is just as critical as building the product itself.
2 .The Power of Data-Driven Decisions
I didn’t fully grasp the value of leveraging data to shape decisions until we began tracking trends in school lunch programs. The software provides powerful analytics tools for monitoring, trend analysis, and forecasting. Schools can track the number of meals served, identify patterns, and plan effectively to meet the needs of their student populations.
3. Remain Agile and Responsive
I learned that while a product roadmap is essential for long-term planning, it’s just as crucial to remain agile and responsive to your customers needs. Prioritize user feedback and don’t be afraid to adjust your roadmap when it aligns with your overarching mission. That balance between focus and flexibility can turn unexpected detours into opportunities for growth.
4. Building the Right Team is Everything
I wish I had realized sooner how essential the right team is for success. Early on, we tried to do too much ourselves, which slowed progress. Once we brought in experts in cybersecurity, product management, and data analysis, everything changed. Their specialized skills allowed us to scale faster and deliver a more secure and user-friendly platform.
5 . The Emotional Impact of Mission-Driven Work
Starting a social enterprise comes with emotional highs and lows I hadn’t anticipated. For example, hearing stories from families who rely on our platform for their children’s meals can be deeply moving but also a heavy reminder of the challenges they face. Balancing the emotional aspects with the need to stay focused on growth has been a lesson in resilience and perspective.
In a constantly evolving industry, how do you stay ahead of trends to keep your offerings innovative and appealing?
In a constantly evolving industry, staying ahead of trends requires a combination of proactive research, collaboration, and continuous improvement. At Food For Thought Software Solutions, we achieve this by actively engaging with stakeholders — schools, parents, and food vendors — to understand their evolving needs.
Food For Thought uses its reporting tools to track the most popular meals ordered through our integrated platform. By identifying trends in meal preferences across schools, age groups, and seasons, we help refine menu offerings and support food vendors in planning nutritious and appealing meals for students. This has been instrumental in helping food vendors manage procurement costs, reduce food waste, and improve operational accuracy.
Additionally, we leverage real-time data analytics to accurately monitor and forecast each school’s food insecurity needs, delivering actionable insights that empower school districts to make informed and impactful decisions. This has led to some schools creating a Backpack Program, for students who need food on the weekends and school breaks. Food backpacks include healthy, easy-to-prepare food for kid-friendly meals.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
It is this movement right here — the movement we started through Food For Thought Software Solutions — that is addressing one of the most pressing global challenges: food insecurity. This movement has brought so much good to the people who need it the most, over 1M healthy lunches have been ordered using our platform.
We’ve created a system that ensures no child goes hungry in our schools, regardless of their financial situation. By implementing the “Pay-What-You-Can” model, we’ve removed the stigma often associated with subsidized lunches, making healthy meals accessible to everyone. This inclusivity has had a profound impact on thousands of families who no longer have to choose between money and nourishment for their children.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
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This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.
