French fries, chicken nuggets, sandwiches, and wraps, are the foods that Fenwick students seem to select when scoping out what to eat for lunch. The difficulty of choosing what to eat for lunch can be formidable when there are many options available to the students. The Fenwick lunch staff puts their quality time into serving food that will be enjoyable to high school students, but with that comes very tough decisions that they too are faced with. The latest update to the cafeteria is the lunch line system with varying opinions from students and challenges that face the staff. With the newly constructed cafeteria, options in food range in diversity, along with constant updates and changes to the logistics of the system in the cafeteria.

Feedback from the students has been interesting to hear, as it ranges from positive to more constructive criticism of the food at Fenwick. Linda Bailey, Fenwick’s food service director, has heard many critics of the food in the cafeteria and her team appreciates that feedback from students as it allows them to adjust to students’ liking. Mrs. Bailey reflects on what has been successful in the kitchen and the new additions they plan to bring to the menu by stating, “We added the burger bar, which has been a success. Soon we will add grilled chicken breast daily. The money we saved allowed us to buy two blenders to make smoothies and milkshakes.” The assortments of food that are already served or planned to be in the coming years have students feeling ecstatic about it. There have been specific answers on favorites around the cafeteria and one comment that emerged the most was from junior Ellie Kolb. When inquiring about the favored choice of selection, she strangely expresses, “I think they should bring back breakfast for lunch because it’s so good and underrated! It’s my absolute favorite and they have only had it about 2-3 times and it needs a comeback.” The variety of preferences each student has, such as breakfast for lunch or chicken sandwiches, is what the food staff looks forward to serving. That way each student can have something to seek when eating lunch.

Fascinating enough, the new lunch lines at Fenwick have seemed to have effects on the students when selecting their food for lunch. The lunch staff has decided to implement improved lines that plan to decrease traffic and accidents when selecting food and checking out. They have also switched the deli spot to the side with all the other hot food and the change hasn’t been favored by many. Isabella Del Russo, an avid and loyal customer of Fenwick’s lunch, expresses, “Lunch is extremely more crowded now that they moved sandwiches by us. It feels like chaos when you are trying to purchase your food as well as it feels like you have no time to eat your lunch.” The difference between the intent of the lines, versus the outcome of what students feel they have done is shocking. Freshman, Scarlett Bazarek weighs in on the controversial lunch lines, and proposes, “I think there should be two french fry lines, as it seems to be a fan favorite, and it would make the lines run smoother and faster.” That seems to be a consistent challenge that Mrs. Bailey and the food service team have run into. The reason for this problem, she concludes, “The hardest thing to keep up with would be the french fries due to the fact we only have two fryers, which the volume of fries we go through some days are harder to keep up with the demands of french fries.” In all, Mrs. Bailey, along with the rest of the lunch staff, hopes to situate current problems in the food area and continue to work towards improving the students’ needs.

With all the options and assortments that students are allowed to choose from, such as sandwiches, fries, burgers, pasta, and more, it’s difficult to concur about what foods are favored the most. To try and lower the curiosity of what the results may be within the Fenwick student body, a poll was conducted with 50 Fenwick students asking what are the 10 top lunch items. The results are in:

1. French Fries 2. Burgers 3. Chicken Sandwiches 4. Pasta 5. Chicken Wraps 6. Deli Sandwiches 7. Pizza 8. Mozzarella Sticks 9. Chicken Nuggets 10. Sweet Potato Fries

Thus, the food at Fenwick is a staple and continues to improve with the helpful feedback and suggestions that students make to the staff. The favored food at Fenwick will continue to be debated and controversial opinions shared. But in the end, the Foodservice Team hopes to nourish and serve the Fenwick body and make food that everyone enjoys. Special thanks to the lunch staff, Kita Hunt, Eva Avila, Teresa Barrera, Elda Damato, Lupe Alvarez and Micheal Hudson, Kim Edwards, Maria Yanez, Mimi Lara, Araceli Medina, who work hard every day to keep the kitchen running smoothly!