School nutrition teams need more than someone who can explain where to click in a software system. They need support from people who understand the work behind the screen.
A menu change can affect production records, nutrition information, allergens, staff instructions, and what happens in the kitchen that day. When the person helping you understands those connections, it’s easier to find solutions that actually work for your program.
That’s why we’re excited to welcome Katie Pence to Health-e Pro as our newest Senior Customer Success Manager.
Katie brings nine years of foodservice management and school nutrition experience to the Success team. She’s planned menus, managed allergen and nutrition information, trained team members, supported managers, and helped lead district operations.
She also brings the perspective of a former Health-e Pro customer.
Before joining the Health-e Pro team, Katie used Health-e Pro in a school nutrition program. She’s also worked with other school nutrition software systems and paper-based processes. She knows what it’s like to learn a system while also keeping up with menus, production records, staffing, regulations, and the unexpected changes that happen throughout the day.
Now, she uses that experience to help Health-e Pro customers find easier ways to work and get more from the tools they already have.
Katie’s Background in Foodservice and School Nutrition
Katie began her foodservice career as a supervisor for Aramark Correctional Services. She later worked at a daycare, where she spent time in the kitchen and trained new kitchen employees.
She eventually moved into school nutrition, starting with a small program before taking on responsibility for 16 districts and more than 200 employees at a foodservice management company.
That experience showed Katie how different each school nutrition program can be.
A process that works well for one district may not fit another district’s staffing, number of schools, or daily routines. Katie learned how important it is to understand the full program before suggesting a solution.
She also gained firsthand experience with the responsibilities school nutrition teams manage every day, including menus, meal patterns, production records, allergens, staff training, and district operations.
When Katie talks with a Health-e Pro customer, she’s not only thinking about how the software works. She’s thinking about what the team is trying to accomplish and how one change may affect the rest of the program.
What Katie Learned as a School Nutrition Software User
Katie has worked with multiple school nutrition software systems, along with manual and paper-based processes.
She’s seen how much the right software can help when it fits the way a team works. She also knows how frustrating it can be when staff have to enter the same information more than once, search through multiple screens, or create extra processes outside the system.
Sometimes, a small improvement can make a noticeable difference.
A faster way to update a daily menu item, locate nutrition information, or make a change across several schools can save valuable time during a busy week.
Katie knows a useful feature should do more than add another option to the screen. It should make a real task easier for the directors, menu planners, managers, and staff members using it.
Because she’s been on the customer side, Katie understands where teams may be spending more time than they need to and how the right feature or workflow can help.
How Katie Supports Health-e Pro Customers
As a Senior Customer Success Manager, Katie works with customers after onboarding to help them continue learning and get more from Health-e Pro.
That starts with getting to know each program.
Katie takes time to understand how a district operates, how its team is currently using Health-e Pro, and where staff may be running into challenges.
For one customer, that might mean finding a faster way to update menus. For another, it might mean using production records more effectively. Another team may need help organizing information more consistently or discovering a feature they didn’t know was available.
Katie also checks in regularly to talk through what’s working, answer questions, and share tips that fit the way the district works.
Her goal isn’t to give every customer the same advice. It’s to understand what each team is trying to accomplish and help them use Health-e Pro in a way that makes sense for their staff, schools, and processes.
That approach also shows up in another part of Katie’s life.
Outside of school nutrition, Katie is a personal trainer and Orangetheory Fitness Coach. Coaching has taught her to meet people where they are, understand what they’re working toward, and help them find realistic next steps to keep making progress.
She brings that same mindset to Customer Success. Instead of assuming every district needs the same thing, Katie listens first and helps teams focus on what will make the biggest difference for their program.
Support from Someone Who Understands the Work
Katie’s experience reflects Health-e Pro’s commitment to bringing real school nutrition knowledge into the customer experience.
Our team includes people who have planned menus, managed school nutrition programs, worked with compliance requirements, trained staff, and used school nutrition software themselves.
That experience matters because our customers aren’t simply learning a system. They’re using it to manage real programs, support their teams, meet requirements, and serve students every day.
Katie understands that work because she’s done it herself. She also understands what it’s like to sit on the customer side of Health-e Pro and figure out how the software fits into everything else that needs to get done.
Now, she brings both perspectives to the customers she supports.
We’re excited to have Katie on the Health-e Pro team and to see how her school nutrition and customer experience helps teams make better use of the software in ways that fit their programs.