As cafeteria lunches go, you can’t get much better than breakfast.
That’s the case at Grandview Heights City Schools and at Upper Arlington City School’s Windermere Elementary School.
At Grandview, students aren’t deterred by the whole grain waffles, toast sticks or pancakes. Director of Food Services Carol Hamilton credits the district’s manufacturers for working hard to make their products taste good while adhering to federal nutrition guidelines.
Hamilton, who has worked for the district for 13 years, says the schools have provided breakfast-themed lunches for as long as she’s worked there.
“When you give them breakfast for lunch, it’s the biggest seller there is,” she says.
Photos courtesy of Wellington School
Along with breakfast foods, Hamilton includes chicken poppers and nuggets and pizza as other popular menu items.
While macaroni and cheese, tacos and Bosco sticks (cheese-filled breadsticks served with marinara sauce) are popular at Windermere, breakfast for lunch reigns supreme. Sausage, hash browns and fruit are served with French toast or pancakes.
Cook Francie Blake, who has worked for Upper Arlington schools for 11 years, says you can tell when a popular menu item is being served.
“The (students are) lined all the way down the hall,” Blake says.
Third-grader Christian Stehle’s favorite lunches are hamburgers, pizza and Bosco sticks, but he’s not shy about picking a favorite.
“I gotta say, it’s the school pizza,” Stehle says.
Fourth-grader Charlie Thackeray, meanwhile, can’t choose between his top three: macaroni and cheese, tacos and ravioli.
At the Wellington School, students had a chance to communicate their favorite lunches through a survey that was distributed to grades 5-12. The online survey, distributed in November, asked students to evaluate 27 main dishes.
Two of their most popular dishes? A taco/burrito bar and a chicken, apple and cranberry pecan salad.
Eighth-grader Ali Winter says that salad is her favorite lunch.
“I love the different textures and flavors in the salad – the crunchy pecans, the creamy cheese, the sweet apples and the tart cranberries,” she says.
While students have been surveyed about the dining room in previous years, this was the first time students had a chance to provide feedback specifically about meals, says Director of Marketing Caroline Haskett.
Last spring, parents were also surveyed about the lunch experience at Wellington.
With results from the November student survey, Wellington dropped its three most unpopular items – ham, herb pork loin and pot roast – and replaced them with teriyaki chicken, cheese ravioli and fettuccine alfredo. The ravioli and alfredo are meatless to reflect feedback from the parent survey.
Rhonda Kimsey, director of dining services for Aladdin Food Management Services, says all the students enjoy seeing their food made fresh to order. Monthly menu items include wraps, specialty salads, a build-your-own submarine sandwich and a baked potato bar.
“For us, there is no greater reward than a student giving a thumbs-up or a high five at the end of the lunch period,” Kimsey says.
Sarah Sole is an editor. Feedback welcome at ssole@cityscenemediagroup.com.
Photos courtesy of the Wellington School
Chicken Apple Cranberry Pecan Salad
Honey Roasted Pecans
Serves 40/2 oz. servings
1 cup honey
2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
5 pounds pecans
Mix the pecans and honey. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon and bake 5-7 minutes at 350 degrees.
Apple Cider Vinegar and Honey Dressing
Serves 40/1 oz. servings
3 cups olive oil
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup honey
Chicken Cranberry Apple Pecan Salad
Serves 1
5 oz. chipped romaine lettuce
1 oz. baked chicken breast, sliced into strips
1 Tbsp. dried cranberries
1/8 cup chopped apples (Wellington uses Gala and Golden Delicious)
½ oz. bacon pieces
½ Tbsp. blue cheese crumbles
2 oz. honey roasted pecans
1 oz. apple cider vinegar and honey dressing
Related Reading
