The cafeteria workers who bring meals to AHS
Staff Writer
When the lunch bell rings, students rush to the cafeteria, eager to grab a plate of food. AHS’s cafeteria workers work diligently to ensure all students are fed on time. However, behind the scenes, there is much more to their job than meets the eye.
Students mostly see cafeteria workers scanning IDs and stocking meals but that hardly scratches the surface of the true nature of their work. “We have to prep a day earlier and, according to requirements, we have to wrap the food and make sure it is warmed to the right temperature,” said cafeteria staff member Ms. Kaur.
To avoid students simply receiving pre-cooked food from an external provider, AHS’s cafeteria workers do their best to ensure that the food being served is fresh, healthy, and enjoyable for students. “We try to give students the best of the best food, and in doing so, we try different recipes so students can enjoy tastes of different cultures and religions,” Ms. Kaur continued.
The limited student understanding of cafeteria work makes it difficult to appreciate the effort required to roll out thousands of meals a day. “We produce the meals for six elementary schools in AHS’s attendance area and, of course, AHS itself. A lot of times, we get this reputation that we simply microwave food here, but there is actually a lot of preparation that goes into the recipes. [We do] taste-testing, and we even sometimes interview students here or at local elementary schools to get new ideas on what they’d like to see,” said Cafeteria Manager Mr. Valencia.
Not only do our cafeteria staff work tirelessly throughout the day to feed students during breakfast, brunch, and lunch, but they also make personal sacrifices to be able to fulfill their duties. “I have to wake up at 5:00 A.M. to drive and get here by 6:00 A.M. From there, we just start working on meals. With AHS and the other six elementary schools that we serve, we have to pump out about 2000 meals a day,” said cafeteria staff member Ms. Mana.
Despite their lack of recognition, cafeteria workers remain dedicated to providing meals for them and truly do enjoy what they do. “My favorite part about working here is feeding kids, seeing a happy face, and when we sometimes hear good feedback from kids, it just makes my day,” said Ms. Kaur.
Students’ feedback on school-provided meals could help cafeteria staff make better-informed decisions on what to serve to best cater to student taste. “Every year with each generation everyone has different tastes, and it’s hard to compete with fast food and Doordash, so creating something that students like and something that they would want to eat is really the objective of my job,” said Mr. Valencia.
Bridging the gap in communication between students and the cafeteria staff would allow both parties to benefit: students would receive meals they truly enjoy, and cafeteria staff would be satisfied with well-fed students and great feedback. “I would like to get feedback from the students and see what their likings are so we can properly cater to their taste and produce the best food for them,” said Mr. Valencia.
Cafeteria workers Ms. Shukla, Ms. Saechang, Ms. Kaur, and Ms. Shaheen (pictured left to right) are responsible for creating and serving meals for the over 2,500 students that attend AHS (Photo Credit: Caleb Truneh (11)).
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