Two months ago, cafeteria manager Joan Bayes started the process of revamping the menu to help include more diverse options for students. The cafeteria officially started serving the new menu on April 2nd.
“We announced the menu changes through the morning announcements, and we also posted detailed information on the electronic menu boards above all the serving lines as well as in the central dining room area,” Bayes said.
The new menu was partially made in response to a new bid that is currently being voted on. If it passes, it would allocate funds to renovate the cafeteria and the kitchen, which hasn’t been updated since 2001.
“[The school district] is looking heavily at possibly expanding the serving lines, adding a serving line, and changing up the appearance of the dining room,” Bayes said. “We’re looking at different items that we could roll out when they do open the new facility, should the bond pass.”
The new menu was also made to help diversify students’ palettes with food items from different cultures and with different tastes.
“I always try to make healthy choices and sometimes that means bringing my lunch,” junior Caroline Karpenko said. “But now with these new options, it’s just so easy to eat healthy and not have to bring my lunch.”
The new menu includes changes to every line, except for the salad line. The first line, the pizza and pasta line, was edited to include more Italian options, such as pizza on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and a pasta bar on Tuesday and Thursday.
“To find food that they’re happy with and comfortable with, I know many times that means that they go to the same line, eat the same thing because it’s comfort food,” Bayes said. “But in making the changes, maybe they can look around and change up their diet.”
Then the fry and grill line will serve hamburgers on Monday and Wednesday, chicken tenders on Tuesday and Thursday, and Chick-fil-A on Friday. For the center line, the cafeteria is trying out new sauces, and entirely new menu items.
“I really like the changes in the cafeteria menu,” Karpenko said. “I feel like I’m getting more diverse opportunities, and I like that they added new food,”
Though it’s a little early to tell if the cafeteria changes are successful, there are plans to see how the new menu changes are improving or changing the sales of the cafeteria.
“I’ll run reports and compare them to previous months to see how different lines are affected,” Bayes said. ”Once we have a pattern, we’ll see how certain lines increase in sales,”
The cafeteria menu makes frequent small changes, but this large change was refined over the course of a few months. Through various food trends and finding out what food was offered by distributors, the cafeteria managing staff was finally able to develop a new menu.
“The new menu provides fresh ingredients, creative ideas and new things,” frequent cafeteria volunteer Linda Vandercook said. “I think that after you eat here every day and you can’t leave, you want some assortment.”
The new menu changes have sparked positive feedback from the staff, the teachers, and the students. With these changes the cafeteria hopes to add a more diverse and healthy menu.
“There’s good quality food here, there are good options here, and I hope this new menu helps students feel more comfortable and excited about coming to lunch everyday,” Vandercook said.
