The bell rings. Students grab their bags and head for the classroom doors, funneling into the hallways. They are all headed for the same place: the cafeteria. Many file through lines to get their food and all sit down to eat with their friends. A short period later, the bell rings again, and the students head back to their classes. But wait – this isn’t the right story. Every student at Oliver Ames knows the student side of lunch period. What they might not know is the other side: the food side.
Roberta Tamasanis is a Food Service Director who oversees the school food programs at all six public schools in Easton, including Oliver Ames High School. Her job is a lot of work, and it includes ordering food from different food companies, receiving food deliveries, and helping with other general jobs that need to be done, such as cooking food and working the register. She was able to give me a behind-the-scenes look at school food and the work that goes into it.
The chain of events starts when Roberta places an order. This could be an order of produce, bread products, milk, or paper and plastic products such as napkins and straws. These different products come from approximately eight different suppliers, and they all come in separate deliveries.
One such supplier is Costa Fruit and Produce, a New England based company which supplies much of the food ingredients served in our cafeteria. Bread comes from Fantini Bakery, while milk comes from Garelick Farms, both of which are also based in New England.
Roberta said that, during parts of the year, produce also comes from Langwater Farms, a certified organic farm right here in Easton, Massachusetts. She estimated that, during that time, “approximately 25% of our fresh produce” is coming directly from Langwater Farms. Deliveries happen by truck and arrive at Oliver Ames multiple times a week. The trucks park by a rear entrance used specifically for the food deliveries.
Each time a delivery comes, a visitor log entry is filled with the date, delivery name, and temperature of the truck at the time of the delivery. From there, boxes of food are labeled with the date they arrived, and are stored in a room with the temperature they require. Pre-packaged foods such as chips are stored at room temperature, but other foods go into walk-in refrigerators or freezers, depending on the product. The temperatures of these rooms can be read on a gauge outside, and they are recorded multiple times a day.
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The next step is the preparing and cooking of the food. There are 8 to 10 team members working rotating shifts to do these jobs as well as serving. While certain foods are prepared elsewhere, and only require heating up, much of the food needs to be cooked at the school. Food cooking temperatures are also checked and recorded on a routine basis. Cold preparation happens as well, and food such as the grilled cheeses are assembled in mass quantities on large trays in order to speed up the process of cooking and serving when lunch time comes. All the food team members working at the school are trained in proper food safety procedures, and safety and sanitary guidelines are followed closely.
Roberta said that some of the biggest challenges happen in relation to getting the food ready on time. An unexpected event, such as a power outage or fire drill, for example, would cause a problem. “On a regular basis,” she said, “food is usually ready on time.” The goal is to have as much food ready as quickly as possible when the bell rings and students start pouring in. Food is kept in a constant shuffle of prepared to cooked to served to being taken by students. Backup quantities are kept warming behind the counter in case a certain food runs out.
An average of 400 meals in total are served every day, and being able to guess what meals will be wanted and what ones won’t is part of the job. How much of each meal is made is based on past history. For example, Roberta and the team know to make 120 grilled cheese sandwiches every day, because that’s what generally gets purchased. If a certain type of pizza isn’t that popular, only a few slices will be prepared.
All of this is taken in stride for Roberta and the other staff, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. She might have lots of experience, but Roberta said that the hardest part of her job is “trying to do it all.” She also wanted to “thank all the team members who come in every day and work hard to make all of these things happen.”