Anaheim : Feedback Foundation’s High-Tech Kitchen Open

About 400 people attended ceremonies Friday marking the opening of a $2-million kitchen to be used by the nonprofit Feedback Foundation, which prepares meals for about 3,100 senior citizens in Orange County.

The new kitchen with its sophisticated equipment will allow for production of up to 20,000 meals a day, said Dianna Turner, assistant director of the Feedback Foundation.

“This high-tech, state-of-the-art equipment can be replicated and can make the federal dollar go further,” she said.

One of the features of the new kitchen is a machine that measures cooked food and dumps it into plastic bags, which are then sealed and taken into a refrigerated storage area, Turner said.

Purchase of the equipment was financed through state grants, loans and private donations, Turner said.

Feedback expects to increase by 1,000 the number of meals it provides this year and “gradually” work its way to capacity in the next five years, Turner said. Feedback provides free hot lunches daily for 3,100 senior citizens at 30 sites in Orange County.

Friday’s ceremony, which was attended by an aide of Supervisor Roger Stanton and officials from Anaheim, Santa Ana, Buena Park, Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach, coincided with Feedback’s 20th anniversary.

Feedback was formed in 1967 to operate a school lunch program for Santa Ana children. Feedback turned to serving senior citizens when it received a $300,000 federal grant under the Older Americans Act. The foundation moved in December to its current location at 1200 N. Knollwood Circle in Anaheim.