About Us
Through continuous growth, strategic collaborations, and a commitment to integrity and expertise, we’ve expanded our reach to serve more than 20 state agencies with a nationwide team of seasoned professionals. Our history reflects innovation, resilience, and an unwavering focus on supporting child nutrition programs that impact communities every day.
1998-2000
The Beginning
With the encouragement of Pat Mount, a former school foodservice director in southern Arizona, Crandall Corporate Dietitians (one of the nation’s largest and oldest dietitian firms) launched a school nutrition consulting business. The purpose was to help districts who were losing money avoid having to go with a food service management company. Rich Crandall and Pat traveled throughout Arizona helping districts and attending various school-related trade shows.
2001-2002
Becoming a Real Company
In 2001, the school nutrition consulting arm of Crandall Corporate Dietitians reorganized as a separate entity and CN Resource was born. Corrine Parmenter, Rich’s sister-in-law, came up with the name. Funny fact. The company was going to be called CN Resources, but at the time the Chinese National Railway owned the URL for cnresources.com. So, we chose CN Resource instead. CNR formally filed with the Arizona Corporation Commission on March 25, 2002. At this same time, CNR got its first big break when we won the bid to complete USDA School Menu Initiative (SMI) reviews for every district in the state of Oregon. The NSLP team at ODE was very sharp and influenced our approach to child nutrition reviews for many years.
2003
A Winning Idea Takes Flight
CN Resource entered the University of Notre Dame Business Plan competition with the idea of providing out-sourcing options for state agencies overseeing USDA-FNS child nutrition programs. We took first place, and the Irish Angels provided the seed capital for CN Resource to expand nationwide.
2004-2009
Early Expansion and Leadership Milestones
Things started slowly as very few states were outsourcing any of their reviews at that time. Fortunately, as more and more states started to see the benefits of flexibility and a seasonal workforce, CNR started to expand. From 2004-2009 contracts were signed with a variety of states including Texas and Georgia for SFSP reviews, New York and Colorado for CACFP reviews and Ohio and Louisiana for NSLP and SMI reviews. It was also at this time that Linda Rider (pictured second from left) came to CNR from the Arizona Department of Education where she led the NSLP team, to take on the role of Vice President of CN Resource. Her credibility and professionalism took CNR to a whole new level. We also moved into our new offices in late 2004.
2010-2020
Expanding Services and Strengthening Expertise
The next decade saw several states contract for reviews of every kind. In 2012, CNR started providing customer support for PrimeroEdge for all NSLP sponsors in the state of Pennsylvania. This period also saw tremendous expansion of the NSLP menu certification and development team.
2021-2025
Resilience Through a Global Challenge
Right before COVID hit, we were able to hold training in Mesa, AZ with several of our reviewers. COVID was a challenging time as we switched to remote reviews, but somehow, we survived.
2023
A Strategic 2023 Merger That Expanded Our Reach
In 2023, CNR merged with TCB Consulting of Tallahassee Florida, founded by Robin Tennille. This merger opened the doors to contracts in Alaska, Nebraska, and Kentucky as well as providing several child nutrition experts. We are grateful to Robin for the legacy she created in child nutrition oversight.
2026
Celebrating 25 Years of Service, With Full Hearts for the Future
Now celebrating 25 years in business, CNR currently provides services to 20+ state agencies with a staff of approximately 100 employees and contractors. We appreciate everyone who has contributed to our success over the past 25 years.