Arizona School Partners in Nutrition (ASPIN) food service cooperative was formed in 1995 with six school districts as founding members. Mohave Educational Services Cooperative accepted the invitation of these six districts to become the Administering Agency of ASPIN. On January 1, 2005, the cooperative’s name was changed to Mohave Educational Services Cooperative, Inc., and the organization became a state nonprofit corporation administering public procurement services pursuant to A.R.S. § 11-952 and A.R.S. § 41-2632.

ASPIN’s current bid for food and supplies is a bottom line bid awarded to Shamrock Foods of Phoenix. It provides for distribution of food and supplies and has options allowing ASPIN members to extend it through June 2007. Long-term price stability is assured with annual pricing updates and options to renew. In addition, ASPIN offers bread and milk bids.

Membership has grown dramatically – currently over 100 school districts are members of ASPIN. Our collective purchasing power now represents over 80,000 lunches daily! This volume equates to substantial savings on food and supplies for school food service operations. Districts vary in size and location but they all share the benefits of cooperative purchasing.

Member benefits include:

• Competitive, stable food and supply costs.
• Bid prices verified prior to billing.
• Single ASPIN invoice for purchases.
• USDA Commodity ordering.
• Nutritional product information.
• Food service, menu, nutrition and program consultation available.
  

JOIN ASPIN AND BENEFIT

For more information, please contact Bette Thompson, Director of ASPIN, by email at bette@mesc.org or by phone at (520) 888-9664 or (800) 552-3534.