Step into a lunchtime experience students love while cutting cafeteria waste and championing climate action.

This is our Story

We're passionate about food: the flavors, textures, and inviting aromas that make us eager to take a bite. We relish warm entrees on a cold day and refreshing beverages when the heat is on. We cherish the break from academics and the camaraderie of good friends.

But what we don't love is the waste:  heavy trash cans, untouched meals, and missed opportunities to teach everyday climate leadership. We support students embracing environmental stewardship from their point of power. 

Now, we're turning our cafeteria victories into online, interactive, zero waste workshops. Your Green Team can use these to unlock your classmates' potential, transform your cafeteria into a showcase for sustainability, and start enjoying lunchtime like never before.

Meet our Founder

Sarah Diaz loves to enjoy nourishing food in good company. She is passionate about her relationship with her body, her spirit, and her community, and food as an avenue for honoring and celebrating that. She loves our Mother Earth and a youthful mindset. She believes in the power of education. 

Sarah Diaz is an educator and sustainability advocate with a Master’s degree in Middle Grades Education and twenty‑four years of classroom experience. She has taught in diverse school settings and worked closely with students, cafeteria teams, and administrators, giving her a ground‑level view of how school systems really function.

In 2023, Sarah became Program Specialist for San Diego Unified School District’s Love Food, Not Waste initiative, where she supported schools in reducing cafeteria waste and elevating student leadership in sustainability efforts.

Seeing the need for a more comprehensive, student‑centered approach, she founded Cafeteria Victories, which designs and delivers programs that develop student leaders, foster a culture of sustainability from a young age, and help schools and districts turn their cafeterias into hubs of climate action.

She wants to meet you because she believes in you. 

Additional Impact at San Diego Unified

Before Cafeteria Victories, our founder helped San Diego Unified School District turn lunchrooms into living classrooms for sustainability. Here’s what that work made possible:

• Milk waste awareness boosted as **most schools reposted** “Milk Does the Body Good, But Only If You Drink It” posters right at the milk coolers  

• 700+ elementary students joined a special Earth Day nutrition Zoom featuring the café sorting song 
• Students at Dingeman Elementary created a multi-version café sorting song video that reached 200+ views, spreading the message peer-to-peer 
• 2,200 students improved tray stacking for recycling after viewing the new “Prepping Trays for Recycling” video
• Milk carton recycling and unfinished milk measurement expanded to 17 schools recycling cartons and 15 schools tracking milk waste by grade 
• 1,200+ students increased how much of their food and deliveryware gets recycled
• 3 schools co-created customized posters to elevate student voice and ownership
• One school integrated the arts by creating a mandala from recovered edible food
• High school interns produced campaign videos and posters to promote Love Food Not Waste across elementary & high school campuses
• 5 high schools gathered feedback from 1,383 students about alternative utensils and sustainable options 
• 6 different materials were tested for durability, functionality, texture, and on-site compostability to inform better purchasing decisions 
• 3 schools conducted plate waste studies to raise awareness and spark behavior change

These results show what’s possible when cafeterias become partners in sustainability.

View the full Impact Report and videos referenced here.

Trusted by Educators, Administrators, Parents, and Students

Cafeteria Victories was founded by Sarah Diaz, maiden name Sarah Barten.

“As a new employee in an organization of our size, Sarah Diaz is skillfully laying the foundation which has been instrumental in scaling up Food and Nutrition Services’ Love Food Not Waste Program. As a leader, Sarah networks masterfully to find the people, provide them with the resources they need, and counsel them through problem solving. She uses the strengths of individual schools to create scalable models and reinforce the use of the recently delivered green bins in the homes of 121,000 students. I highly recommend and support Sarah Diaz as a candidate and leader in the efforts she pursues.”

-Fred A. Espinosa, Manager of Food Acquisition & Production, Food Services Department, San Diego Unified School District

“Sarah Diaz has been an intricate part of our volunteer team for the last 1.5 years in the capacity of Master Composter and Sustainable Lead Specialist. With the onset of California’s new sustainability law SB1383, food waste reduction and food waste recovery, Sarah began to focus her efforts on ways to encourage students through education to reduce their impact on our environment. Our Youth 4 a Sustainable Future program (Y4SF) is running in 3 local high schools and a middle school. Sarah Diaz has my strong recommendation to continue educating and enhancing our community’s sustainability efforts with dedication, passion and hard work towards a better future.”

-Tina Matthias, Executive Director, South Bay Sustainable Communities Network

“I had the honor of working with Sarah when she came to my school site (Tierrasanta Elementary) to help us establish and implement the ‘Love Food, Not Waste’ Program through San Diego Unified. Sarah was communicative, organized, collaborative and goal oriented. I can't say enough about how professional, efficient, and pleasant Sarah was to work with. Her leadership and character were just what our school needed to take our school lunch program to the next level.”

-Sally Viavada, Principal, Tierrasanta Elementary

“In my capacity as Associate Principal at Jerabek Elementary, I have had the pleasure of working with Ms. Sarah Diaz to create and grow our own Love Food Not Waste program at Jerabek. Our cafeteria has reduced both milk and food waste because of her spearheading our Green Team. One of Sarah's greatest strengths is her ability to engage and motivate others. Her enthusiasm for this program is contagious, and she has successfully rallied our school community to improve our cafeteria procedures to increase our sustainability.”

-Megan Blom, Associate Principal, Jerabek Elementary School

“Over the past year, I have had the pleasure of working closely with Sarah through my role as a career internship placement instructor at Clairemont High School. From the moment Sarah began working with my students, it was evident that she possesses an exceptional commitment to both the program and the students themselves. Her passion for sustainability and her genuine care for the students are palpable in everything she does. Sarah Diaz is a dedicated, passionate, and highly effective leader who has made a significant impact in the short time I have known her.”

-Jeanne Cantwell, Internship Program Coordinator, Clairemont High School

“Sarah has been volunteering her time to educate and help my students launch Youth 4 a Sustainable Future (Y4SF) at High Tech High Chula Vista. Sarah is reliable, knowledgeable, and passionate about reducing food waste, impacting climate change, and educating youth. We were able to effectively implement this program due in large part to Sarah’s dedication. I recommend her without reservation.”

-Elise Bostic, Biology & Environmental Science Teacher, High Tech High Chula Vista

“You were originally one of our first contacts and helped us get on good terms with the district. You helped us see things from the district perspective and understand how adults would want to see things. Just having someone look at our work from a different perspective helped us realize how we might need to change or add something. Overall, thank you for all of your help and input this year.”

-Henry Jiang & Kai Trees, Eco Lunches UC Team, Student Leaders

“I have had the pleasure of working with Sarah Diaz as her immediate supervisor in my position as Principal of Valley Vista Elementary School. In response to California Senate Bill 1383, we later narrowed the focus to teaching students about healthy choices, composting, and developing systems at schools involving students in collecting and sorting food waste. To fulfill her assignment, Sarah has had to be extraordinarily flexible, organized, and adventurous, and she was already very passionate about everything to do with science and being health and earth conscious. She is a dedicated and conscientious teacher and an avid advocate for our earth’s health and what humans can and should do for it.”

-Carmen Emery, Principal, Valley Vista Elementary School

“I supervised Sarah Diaz at Juarez-Lincoln between March 2018 through June 2022. During this time, she taught science as part of our school site’s Visual and Performing Arts program in groups for students in kindergarten through sixth grade. She strived to ensure her students received hands-on instruction by creating instructional science units and lessons. She also reached out to the local waste organization to explore community partnerships in waste management and composting at school.”

-Robert E. Pollack, Principal, Juarez-Lincoln Elementary

“Sarah Barten Diaz is a proven life-long learner and educator. Mrs. Diaz is a dedicated professional with a commitment for individualized student and overall school success. She utilizes many strategies and techniques within her daily planning to provide the best possible instruction for each of her students.”

-Tammy Christensen, Project Teacher / TRAC Coach, James Monroe Elementary

“I had the distinct pleasure of working with Sarah Barten Diaz as my Kindergarten teaching partner at Monroe Elementary School. She was a valued team member, collaborating regularly with her grade level, bringing many innovative ideas to the team and helping to implement them. In the classroom, her student record keeping was amazing, allowing her to individualize instruction on a daily basis. Sarah is loved by her students and she has maintained contact with them through the years.”

-Dee Martin, Kindergarten Teaching Partner, James Monroe Elementary

“After meeting Ms. Barten before school began and hearing all her plans during our back to school night, my worries were laid to rest. Ms. Barten is an amazing teacher who is able to let loose and become a playful child along with her students to get them to open up and enjoy the learning process. Your child, like my son, was given a gift in Ms. Barten. There is a bright future for them, one filled with fun, excitement for learning, love and support.”

-Tara Huffman, Kindergarten Parent

“From the very first day I met her, I knew it would be an amazing kindergarten experience for my son Hector. The classroom environment was full of energy and encouragement for the kids and also the parents, and it was so hard to leave the classroom. She is a one of a kind teacher, by far the best teacher I’ve ever met. My son Hector started kindergarten without any preschool background and knew nothing, but because of Sarah’s teaching skills and my commitment to help my son at home with her techniques, he finished at the top of his class. We highly recommend her for any position she is applying for. I guarantee she will be the best at it!”

-Ana Karina Cardona, Kindergarten Parent