001Welcome uh to Rumor Has It, a podcast that's produced by two amazing students at Cedar Springs High School. Uh John and Caleb. Uh today uh we have Blakeland with us. Uh student extraordinaire at the high school. Uh amazing person, loves grilled cheese. And we have Mrs. Holly Haywood. And uh she is here. She's our food service director. Today the rumor that we're going to talk about is food service. And just people have a lot of questions about food service. Uh what does it look like? Uh what are some highlights of the food service program from a student's perspective? Maybe some growth opportunities uh for the food service program. Uh and then Holly's going to just share uh some details about the the food service program and uh and and we're going to dig into this
002thing. So episode three, rumor has it food service focus. Here we go. Um boy oh boy. Let's start with with Blakeland. What are some highlights when when you come to come to school, you get lunch or breakfast in the cafeteria? What are some things that you really uh really connect with? >> Um, I really like that the school lunch is free, so everyone can get it. Um, and I really like the lunch ladies. They're all very nice and like even if you ask politely like, "Oh, can I have a little extra?" They'll they'll be pretty nice about that. Um, I really like that we provide breakfast and lunch. Um because sometimes if you're running late in the morning, you can't grab a granola bar on the way. >> Um Holly, tell us a little bit
003about that the options, the kind of the meal planning, what goes into um the the thinking or what goes into the food that you put out for students to be able to access on a daily basis. >> Yeah. Um obviously like like said, we have free breakfast and lunch. Don't forget about breakfast. But uh we have certain components that we have to have out for lunch. We have five food components. So, they're the dairy, the milk. Uh we have grains, which is your breads and things. We have meat or meat alternate. So, um and then we have fruit and veggie options. And for a meal to count for free, every student must have that fruit or vegetable on their tray as they go through the line. >> Got it. So there are some some requirements
004in order for uh federal government to help support the the fund to give the funds to the districts, >> correct? >> To help provide those free meals. Um so what about the choices? How do you determine what things we put out? Whether it's an apple, whether it's a plum, whether it's a banana, how do how do you think through the different options for students? >> Right. So we we try to get uh good feedback and we can tell what goes the best. Um, so I have to menu it, but then we have options of all different and we're trying to get um more fresh fruit, different options. Plums, kiwis um were mentioned. Those are just different fruits that a lot of their kids might not see at home or might not get at home. >>
005Um so we try we try to do that. Uh we just had asparagus on the uh line the other day. So something as a spring veggie. So we had that as well. Um, so, uh, you talked a little bit about getting student input on the menu. Uh, how do you go about that? Is that a formal process? >> Um, so I don't know if you've seen a couple times we've had vendors come in and do samplings. Um, and then we get feedback from the kids. We actually just had a was a chicken teriyak barbecue with noodles and then the chicken had a different sauce on it and so we got good feedback on that from the students and put it on the menu. >> Got it. Did you have an opportunity to sample that? >>
006I did sample it and then I think they had like little note cards or something to say like whether you would want it and I I really liked it and then I've gotten it at lunch a couple times. >> That's awesome. Um how what's your thought on on and not just from your perspective but also you know you see all your friends um go through the lunch process or go through the lunch line. Are how are are portions appropriate? Do they feel like they're getting the right size uh portions or would they benefit from a little bit more? I think it depends on what food is being served. Um, typically in like the main course, like kind of lunch line, like the one that changes every day. Um, that's usually like just the right amount
007of food. Sometimes I think with like the corn dogs or like the chicken tenders kind of in the middle or just the two Bosco sticks. I know some some like stronger guys at the school are eating more and they're getting school lunch and five mini corn dogs isn't probably enough and but they have other choices as well. They can get a sandwich, they can get pizza, so they don't have to get that. That's a choice. Um yeah. >> Yep. That that's a concern especially with those bigger bigger boys that are going through the line. they can purchase the second >> um amount or we always say as much fruit and vegetables as you'd like um with that main >> option. Yeah. >> Wow. Um so you mentioned pizza, sandwiches, different so there are different stations
008when you go through. >> Um is that seen as a positive for students? They get some choices. >> Yeah, that is very much a positive because sometimes I don't I don't always want what's in one lunch line or the other. So, I'll go get a pretzel or if I'm not feeling a pretzel, I'll go get a sandwich. >> Yeah. Um, but with choices comes more staff, I'm guessing. Yes. And just more variables to play. So, um, do you have choices like that at all levels, or is that just a high school? >> Um, we have we have many choices at the middle school. um a few more at the high school, maybe two more lines at the high school, but middle school has those five or six different options. Um but the elementaryaries, we just
009have one hot option with a cold sandwich as a second choice. >> Got it. Got it. Got it. So, we've talked a lot about fruits and vegetables. We've talked about some savory dishes. How about the sweet dishes? Are there any uh desserts that either you take take advantage of that they offer or some things that you'd really like for them to consider? >> I know they have like the ice cream and stuff that you can pay for and the cookies and stuff. I've never done that just cuz I don't want to really spend my money, but I don't um I really like the little like slushie cups that we have. Those are always fun. Um and then there's the strawberries too that are in those little cups. And then I guess in the morning we
010have there's like the banana bread and Pop-Tarts. Those are kind of sweet. I don't really take advantage of the ones you have to purchase though. >> Oh, got it. Got it. Got it. >> Yes, we do have. And I was I thought you were going to say apple crisp >> during Yeah, there's a lot to >> during lunch. So, that's kind of uh >> we count it as the fruit [laughter] for that sweet option during lunch. Um, but we do have that alle cart room with frozen yogurts and some ice cream treats, baked chips, different different drinks in there as well. >> What are the big go-to items that the students really are attracted to? Uh for lunch on that main line, we have breakfast for lunch is is popular in all buildings and our
011Red Hawk bowls seem to be seem to be very popular as well. So those are probably on the highest. Chicken wings have grown in popularity. We have the bone in chicken wings I think a lot of people take advantage of. So >> yeah. Um, is there one thing if you could make one suggestion for the food service team, what what might that be? >> Um, I mean, I think we're doing pretty great. Maybe just like offering like maybe refilling the stuff more like the carrots or I know there's probably like a limited amount of pretzels, but sometimes if you're at the back of the line and the pretzels come in and you're like, "Oh, can't get a pretzel. I have to go get pizza now." Or >> Yeah. Yeah, other than I think we're doing
012really good other than that. So, >> so you talked about portion size being pretty pretty okay for for the majority of students. >> What do students do if they don't eat all their food? >> Um, yeah, typically it just gets thrown in the trash. Um, there are like opportunities to put on like the share table for people to grab an apple if they want it, but >> you're not going to put your whole meal on the share table obviously. So, if there's wasted food, it just goes in the garbage most of the time. Um, a lot of times at breakfast, you see a lot of those smaller like snack foods on the table though, which is kind of convenient to just walk down the hallway if you're hungry, pick it up. Um, yeah, but other
013than that, most of it, if you don't finish, it's gone in the garbage. >> Yeah. Any thoughts on the share table or just how we can help reduce waste? Yeah, on the share table it does have to be those um packaged foods, which I think that's why at breakfast it's so popular. You have your juice and a lot of package stuff at breakfast time. Um lunch, maybe we need to add a couple more tables if people would put >> some apples where someone could just wash it off and and take that. Um but yeah, you're not going to put your main entree or piece of pizza on there. And some of [laughter] >> out of the pizza, put the rest on the table. >> Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] >> Um and we do have to be
014careful putting it on there and just the time that it it is out of, you know, hot holding so it's so >> you don't get to spoil milk or bad food. Um if it's yogurt, we don't want it sitting out there either. So we have to watch that on the share tables as well. >> Yeah. Do they do do you do share tables at all the different levels in different buildings as well? >> Yes, but it's mostly popular at the middle school and high school because we're switching um classes. So, in between classes, the students just grab it off of there. >> Oh, got it. >> So, quality control is important. Um we want to make sure that things are fresh and things are up to date. Um how do you go through the process
015of checking expiration dates on food? Um particularly maybe the expiration dates on the milk. How do we make sure that things stay fresh for our students? >> Yes. So, we have to have all food at cold and hot temperatures. Um, we did have an issue with milk in the cartons and uh we got a hold of our vendor and addressed that right away. I hope it's it's way better. So, we've had um who we bought the milk from, the cartons were actually the problem. Um, so if you notice at the beginning of the year, we went to um a shelf stable milk even though it was cold. >> Um, it seemed to help until they could get their production line back working again. And uh, we tried the cartons again. >> Didn't didn't work again.
016So, we went with the bottles. I don't know if you guys have seen that Country Fresh bottles now. And I I I've got I haven't gotten any complaints so far. So, let me know if you hear anything. So those bottles seem to to be a lot better and the dates are good. You know, unless we check every milk, we're going off of the dates and how it's handled, but it was a production line issue, so we got that switched out. >> Uh so we know that Blakeland eats lunch on a pretty regular basis. And how many uh lunches do you uh serve every day at the high school? >> Sure. So when the seniors were here, we were serving upwards of pretty regular 580 lunches. we would serve um upwards to 600. Now that the
017seniors are gone, uh we're we're more like 450. So, we've dropped we've had, you know, quite a drop with the seniors graduating. Got it. >> Lunches. >> Got it. So, um boy, any other wrapups? Any other things that you can think about that we haven't talked about with food service yet? How about the feeling in the cafeteria? Do you have enough tables? You have enough seating? Does the space feel good? >> Yeah, I love our cafeteria. Um, I like that we have outdoor seating as an option, too. Um, sometimes they do like mix around the tables like to a different like pattern than they were before and that might be like, oh no, where's our table now? And I think there's some good in that too, like get you to sit next to people you
018don't know. I think they have a there's some purpose in there. But >> other than that, I think our lunchroom's pretty great. I think the lunchrooms at the other schools are great, too. And I like that we have the microwave options um for cold lunch. Um yeah, I think lunchroom is just a really good spot to like socialize. >> You know, food is an interesting thing. It's it's personal for people. It brings them joy. Uh it can make a crummy day a little bit better. It there's a lot of emotion involved >> uh with with the food service or with food in general. So it's it's a it's a pretty important task. And the reality is, um, you can't be successful in the classroom if you're hungry. >> Um, and if you don't have the
019right fuel, uh, whether you're a student getting ready for a test or you've got a game or an event after school, that fuel really helps to to move you forward so that you can be the best you can be in whatever it is that you're trying to do. Uh, which is such a neat thing. Yeah. >> All right. Well, I think we're at a wrap. >> All right. appreciate you both coming in sharing your thoughts on uh both from what it's like as a person who eats lunch on a regular basis, but also from a person that serves lunch on a regular basis. Um so that's it. Rumor has it uh episode 3 is in the books. Uh we greatly appreciate you coming and we appreciate you tuning in. So thanks so much. Uh thanks
020to John and Caleb for uh putting this together. We appreciate you both as well. Uh and we look forward to uh bringing the next next episode to you in a couple of weeks.