Director of Food & Nutrition
My journey began 25 years ago when I first started in school food service as an hourly employee for a competitor of The Nutrition Group (TNG).
Shortly after starting with the other company, their food service contract was awarded to TNG. As any employee that has worked in a district taken over by another competitor, you are worried about change. So much can shift, like job responsibilities, positions, and union negotiations, and the staff worries about how we will be treated from the new management team.
The worries were in vain. TNG took over the account and I have never looked back. I have been proudly working with TNG in a management position for the last 18 years and have had a great job advancement journey. The management team recognized my knowledge, skills, and personality could handle just about anything that comes along in day-to-day operations, as well as my ability to work with the administration in a professional manner.
Under TNG’s guidance, I advanced from an hourly cook position in a high school of approximately 1,000 students to a Kitchen Manager position. During that time, I got to know the management team and they recognized my potential, and I was offered a job I couldn’t refuse. I began as the Assistant Director of Food & Nutrition. I loved the work that I did and felt I made a difference in the lives of each of those students by providing nutritious breakfast and lunch options on a daily basis.
Through my hard work and dedication developing the program, I was promoted to Director of Food & Nutrition in a new role with multiple accounts, and then promoted again to a larger account when the Lead Director of Food & Nutrition left suddenly.
My journey with TNG didn’t end there. I moved on to become an Operations Specialist, responsible for assisting with the opening of new accounts at the beginning of the school year. I worked side by side with the staff to make transitioning from self-op or from another management company as smooth and seamless as possible. In recent years as I near retirement, TNG has allowed me to return to my roots in a role as Director of Food & Nutrition.
- Mary Jo Grazious
Join a team that cares for each other like family.
Ed stands by a solid brand promise: “At The Nutrition Group, we try to do exactly what we say we will do. No surprises. Guaranteed.”
The Nutrition Group began when Walter McGrew and Ed Caswell purchased a small division of Potter McCune in June of 1975. Walter needed someone that would help grow Nutrition Inc. Providentially, Ed was in the right place at the right time. Walter offered him the opportunity to help grow the new business along with a share of the company. Ed enthusiastically accepted and became Vice President. The early years were characterized by transition, from a volume-based commissary operation to bid-based contract catering and then to contract food service management.
As with any successful business, many hours were invested, much experimentation was tried and many lessons were learned. The main key to early success was hiring quality, team-oriented management personnel and nourishing and encouraging their personal and professional growth.
Mr. McGrew retired in the early 1980’s and divested his interest to Ed in 1991. The leveraged buyout necessitated creative capitalization beyond bank financing. As it turned out, the idea to sell stock to key management personnel remains a powerful component in the company’s success. This has allowed The Nutrition Group to maximize growth opportunities and improve operational capabilities. Being an actively involved owner of the company is energizing, it lights the fire of pride and commitment because it is personal.
The Nutrition Group has enjoyed continual growth guided by their top management leadership team, which has been another hallmark throughout the years of our management philosophy: a strong, dedicated and focused top management team. The corporation has developed teamwork structures and principles within all levels of our business and closely monitors and supervises daily implementation and progress.
Ed’s customer-first philosophy that fueled company growth from the beginning is still the driving principle today. The employees of The Nutrition Group embrace that philosophy in all that they do. Today, The Nutrition Group serves over 240 school districts across six states and has a Commissary Division serving daycare and Head Start children, Senior Centers and Healthcare facilities. Also, the Facilities Management Services division provides custodial maintenance management, capital project management and owner’s representative services.
Ed’s parents and grandparents passed on their entrepreneurial beliefs. He was raised in a business household. He is grateful to Mr. McGrew his first partner and business mentor. He is grateful to God, his wives, family, the many “Nutritionites”, customers, vendors and outside sources of inspiration – all of which helped him to grow and develop into the person God has graced him to be. Ed believes, “We grow more through our hardships than blessings, but we are grateful for both.” He is a man of faith whose resourcefulness, perseverance and leadership helped build The Nutrition Group.
The integrity and commitment of The Nutrition Group business model, focusing on trying to consistently please the customer and sincerely attempting to do what we say we are going to do, is what sets us apart from the competition.
