Meet the marketing manager making Boston school lunches go viral

Northeastern graduate Kashish Patel is the first marketing manager for the Boston Public Schools’ food and nutrition services division.

by Cesareo Contreras

November 25, 2025

Kashish Patel takes a photograph of a lunch at East Boston High School as part of her job as the marketing manager for Boston Public Schools’ Food and Nutrition Services. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

School lunches have a bad rap, but Northeastern University graduate Kashish Patel wants to change that.

The first marketing manager for Boston Public Schools Food & Nutrition Services, Patel is employing a digital-first approach to highlight the program’s healthy and fresh breakfast and lunches.

Since joining BPS last May, she has developed the department’s first comprehensive marketing plan and set up its own social media accounts with a focus on publishing high-quality infographics and informative short-form vertical videos.

She had plenty of material to work with. The Boston public school system serves more than 48,000 meals to 125 schools every day. Ninety-six percent of those meals are made fresh in-house.

The key to any good marketing strategy is getting the word out far and wide, explained Patel, who graduated from Northeastern in December 2024 with a master’s degree in project management.

Good marketing makes Patel feel informed, empowered and like people have learned something new and useful, she said.

One of the school system’s most forward-thinking initiatives is Global Food Choice Day, in which students are presented with dishes from around the world and vote on which they’d like to be added to the lunch menu, she said.

A young woman with long dark hair, glasses, and wearing an orange blazer with a blue lanyard takes a photo with her smartphone in a cafeteria with yellow walls. — Northeastern graduate Kash Patel was hired as the first marketing manager for Boston Public Schools’ Food and Nutrition Servicess in May 2025. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

A cafeteria meal tray containing a sandwich, a banana, a small carton of milk, and a fresh garden salad with lettuce, tomatoes, corn, and black beans on a white rectangular plate. — Northeastern graduate Kash Patel was hired as the first marketing manager for Boston Public Schools’ Food and Nutrition Servicess in May 2025. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

It’s a program designed to help students broaden their perspective, experience other cultures, and enhance their food literacy. But surprisingly, many people didn’t know about it before Patel started.

She took it upon herself to post about it on the school system’s official Instagram account, BPS Eats, publishing an infographic outlining the program.

That’s just one example of the kind of post you’ll find on the BPS’ Eats Instagram account, which launched three months ago.

You’ll also find several videos highlighting BPS’s food and nutritional services team, including Alexis Assad, a culinary manager at BPS, and Andrew Wilson, BPS Cafeteria manager.

By taking people behind the scenes and into the kitchen, Patel and her team are able to highlight the system’s focus on meals that are not only healthy and nutritious but are also delicious and culturally diverse.

A cafeteria worker wearing gloves assembles tacos on soft tortillas, adding toppings from a large metal serving tray filled with seasoned meat, corn, black beans, and other ingredients. — Courtesy Photo

A school lunch tray with compartments containing an apple, a carton of Hood milk, a black bean and corn salad, a green salad with shredded carrots, and seasoned chicken over brown rice. — Courtesy Photo

“I have posted two or three videos on our social media channel so far, and each of them has gotten above 4,000 views,” said Patel. “I’ve been focusing heavily on video marketing because it catches attention.”

That echoes Patel’s work at Northeastern, explained Bindu Veetel, a Northeastern University mathematics professor and coordinator of Northeastern’s Bridge to Calculus, a program designed to teach Boston Public Schools kids calculus and other subjects over the summer break.

Veetel nominated Patel for a Laurel & Scroll 100 award in April — which she received — after Patel served as a teaching assistant for the Bridge to Calculus program’s video editing class and as the program’s first social media and marketing manager.

Two women in conversation, one wearing a blue hoodie shown from behind, and another wearing glasses, an orange blazer, and a name tag, giving out stickers. — Kashish Patel hands out BPS EATS stickers to East Boston High School students. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

A hand holding a colorful sticker that reads 'BPS EATS' with letters decorated in various food-themed patterns and designs against a blurred background. — Kashish Patel hands out BPS EATS stickers to East Boston High School students. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

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The Laurel & Scroll 100 is one of the highest honors a Northeastern graduate student can be awarded and is meant to recognize a student’s valuable contribution to the university.

Patel was integral in updating the Bridge to Calculus’ website, Veetel said, and today continues on as a part-timer and regularly posts content on the program’s LinkedIn account.

“She is highly motivated, committed and is always looking for what more she could do,” said Veetel, highlighting Patel’s work ethic and continuous drive to learn.

Here are just a few of Patel’s other accomplishments as a student at Northeastern: she was head of social media at NU Society of Human Resource Management, director of marketing at NU Project Management, and a global student mentor at the Office of Global Services.

Her job at BPS may be her biggest challenge yet, but she doesn’t take her responsibilities lightly. In fact, she hopes to plant roots that endure for years to come.

“I want to build something strong, making sure that if the team increases or someone comes in after me, they would have a strong baseline to build upon,” she said. “And if I can do this much [so far], I’m sure you can anticipate what’s coming in the future.”