It’s been a long time coming, but fresh hot meals have finally returned to the Upper School. Beginning construction the summer of 2023, St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes planned their largest addition in years, promising a new cafeteria, along with classrooms and a student commons. While students certainly seemed to be intrigued by the new expansion, excitement was almost entirely centered around the promise of a working kitchen.
Throughout the construction, a new, prepackaged, food service “YayLunch” was substituted for students’ fresh hot lunches. Yay would deliver students food in an often lukewarm to cold state, with the food quality often fluctuating. This caused quite the stir amongst students, faculty, and parents. The outrage was so loud that after only two months the service was swapped, in favor of a new program titled “Healthy Fresh Meals.” This was only a stint in the pipeline, as no prepackaged food would substitute for a functioning cafeteria.
At the end of the 2023-2024 school year, the new lunch program was announced to be included in tuition. Instead of figuring out which students paid for lunch, the school made the controversial decision to include meals in every student’s tuition. The decision was met with hesitation, as those who brought lunch had no interest in paying for a meal they wouldn’t be eating. While the cafeteria had been rebuilt, SSSAS would continue to work with SAGE Dining, the suppliers managing previous kitchen imports. This didn’t keep excitement from building, or bellies from rumbling.
With all these factors in play, the opening of a new cafeteria was the biggest discussion amongst the student body. Opening for welcome day on August 30th, students would all share their first taste of a fresh meal at school in over a year.
After a weak first week, SSSAS opened the new addition to mixed reactions. Conducting a poll of 54 students, I received many reactions to the dining. Time would only solve design issues, and the new space would eventually feel “lived in,” which left the only thing students had any right to complain about being the food. After a first week of eating, the clear winner of “favorite non-vegetarian meal” went to Wednesday’s Braised BBQ Beef, and Mac & Cheese. Similarly Tuesday’s Vegetarian Chik’n Biscuit was a trendy option at 40% of the vote.
One thing was clear, which one student put perfectly; “I noticed that some days it’s really good, and some days it’s really not.” Soggy cheeseburgers, to crispy chicken wings. A clunky mix of pizza and pasta, to spicy Korean chicken, and sticky rice. The cafeteria is trying new things, and this will certainly come with some bumpy days.
“We were only feeding about 250 students and 150 faculty. Now it’s an all inclusive program with the entire school, so we’re feeding 650 and that’s if everyone just eats one time.” With a bulky array of eaters, a larger space to work with, and newer equipment, Executive Chef Jordan Liker has a lot to tackle with the new service. “We’re also doing six lines at the same time, and we’re feeding everyone at the same time.” As opposed to the previous one line system, the cafeteria is bigger than ever. It came as no surprise that the hardest part of working the kitchen was “keeping everybody happy at the same time.” The scales are larger, the students hungrier, and the space is so much bigger this year.
A majority of the complaints expressed were the cafeteria’s lack of “flavor.” This mysterious additive can best be described as spices and seasonings. “Sometimes the hot food is either way too salty or has no flavor” claimed one hungry student “They don’t season the foods a lot.” said another. While dry food is common in large kitchens, students’ hopes had been exceptionally high with the long wait.
It was safe to say, the students’ thoughts were scattered. With responses on problems with food ranging from “Nothing that is worth complaining seriously about.” to “the chicken is bad and the cupcakes were hard” there was certainly debate between the students on the food’s quality.
With the rocky first week, it was hard to look forward to an improvement. Yet as the second, set in, it was clear there had been major improvements. “I actually like this week, this week’s been pretty good.” commented routine customer, Sebastian Vargas ‘26. “The variety of food has changed, The chicken has become a lot more moist” Junior Reed Presby said. While it may have been underwhelming at first, the new lunch program has some things to look forward to as the year progresses.
Filling the massive hole that is student hunger, the cafeteria staff were given an impossible task. The first week of anything is often rough. We can’t expect what comes out of the gate to be our final offer. One thing, certainly remains true; it beats prepackaged lunch.
