BOULDER, Colorado – The Boulder Valley School District is trying to reduce waste in its food program.

According to a 2017 story published by TheDailyCamera.com, the school district received a $10,000 grant to pay for a food waste data collection system.

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The system helps determine how what types of food prepared in school kitchens are most typically thrown away by students, or wasted in other ways.

The school district spends about $3 million per year on internally-prepared food, according to the news report.

“With the new system in Boulder Valley, the district can track each food item that’s thrown into the compost bins, showing trends that can help generate ideas on how to improve, reducing both waste and food costs,” the news report said.

If Boulder Valley officials are really interested in reducing food costs, they ought to take a much closer look at the incredible amount the district spends on restaurants and catering services.

In fiscal year 2016-17, there were 2,452 restaurant/catering transactions charged to Boulder Valley credit cards, according to documents provided by the school district through a public information request.

The total tab came to $262,815.67.

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There were some really, really big restaurant transactions, including 26 that totaled at least $1,000.

The biggest single transaction was $2,267.60 at Chippers on May 26, 2017.

The rest of the top 10 individual tabs were at Jason’s Deli ($2,000 on Aug. 9, 2016); The Goodies Factory ($1,811.77 on Nov. 3, 2016); Illegal Pete’s ($1,725 on May 22, 2015); Chippers ($1,701.80 on Dec. 9, 2016); Illegal Pete’s ($1,628.13 on Dec. 5, 2016); Santiago’s Mexican Restaurant ($1,616.25 on Dec. 3, 2016); Chantaque Dining Hall ($1,582.50 on Jan. 19, 2017); Pasta Jay’s ($1,555.15 on Aug. 15, 2016); and Chipotle ($1,518.75 on March 11, 2017).

Two days were particularly expensive. On May 11, 2017 the school district had charges of $1,388.63 at Illegal Pete’s, $1,090.28 at Old Spaghetti Factory, $1,051 at El Noa Noa Mexican Restaurant, and $1,022 at Qdoba.

That added up to a $8,081.82 restaurant tab, all in one day.

On Aug. 15, 2016, there were charges of $1,022 and $1,261.50 at Blackjacks Pizza and $1,555.15 at Pasta Jays. That came to a total of $3,838.65.

The people in the school district consuming all the food – employees, students, or more than likely both – had some definite favorites.

The most popular eatery was Jason’s Deli, where the school district had 250 transactions for a total of $31,588.38. Coming in second was Blackjack Pizza, where there were 193 transactions totaling $18,656.60.

Other popular destinations were Domino’s Pizza (108 transactions totaling $9,178.50); Starbuck’s (138 transactions totaling $7,412.16); Santiago’s Mexican Restaurant (63 transactions totaling $7,070.06); Pizza Hut (60 transactions totaling $6,763.81); and Einstein Brothers Bagels (79 transactions totaling $4,178.76).