Imagine walking into the cafeteria after a difficult class, ready to take a break, and you’re met with the warmest smile from one of the people behind the counter making the food for you every day. And now suddenly, your day is already seeming a bit better.

Bellevue East cafeteria staff works hard behind the scenes to provide faculty and students with breakfast and lunch every day.

“The easiest part is helping the students because that’s the most fun and we get to interact with everybody,” food service worker Victoria  Arroyo said.

The lunchroom faculty members enjoy making the lunches, and many students enjoy eating them as well. Many students get some of their meals like breakfast and lunch from the cafeteria every day, and enjoy the fact that they can modify their meals.

“I like that with the Snack Shack you can choose your own thing, and it also gives you mainstream food that you can buy,” sophomore Audrey Sloan said.

Faculty at our school work hard to make sure that the day runs smoothly, and this includes everyone working in the lunchroom. Many students don’t realize all of the work that goes into getting school lunches ready, and everything that the cafeteria staff does other than serving food.

“I make the cold boxes and the salads that go out, and I’m also on a register,” food service worker Brenda Pope said.

Preparing the lunches for the school takes up a lot of their morning and time, so deciding which lunches they prefer to make, while still continuing the schedule, is simple. Some lunches are easier to make than others, such as the salads and cold boxes, which are the common preference.

“The cold lunches are the easiest and fastest to do,” Pope said.

Even though making lunches is a big part of what is done in the cafeteria, so is the Snack Shack. Some of the cafeteria staff even work at both making the lunches and getting the Snack Shack ready.

“I am in charge of the Snack Shack, so I make sure that everything is ordered and stocked,” said food service worker Angie Behlen. “I am also in charge of concessions so I have to make sure that all the concession stands are ready.”

Some of the people that prepare our lunches are also the ones that make sure the concessions are always stocked and the Snack Shack is full of sodas and other foods.This addition takes more time, especially because of stocking and purchasing new items.

“I work in the Snack Shack, so I help with purchases, stocking,” said Arroyo. “At the end of the day stocking takes about thirty minutes.”

Many things in the concessions and Snack Shack are store bought and have to be ordered days or even further in advance, and this job is taken on by some of the people that also work in the lunchroom. Some items are made by the cafeteria workers and don’t have to be bought but take extra time to prepare for areas like the snack shack.

“I make all of the parfaits for the Snack Shack,” said Behlen.

The preparation that goes into all of the meals can take various amounts of time depending on the job, but often ordering has to be done many days in advance. Whether it’s preparing the tables for that day, or getting food stocked even earlier in advance, it is all for the students’ benefit, and food service work hard to get things prepared.

“It takes at least three hours to get everything set up and running,” said Pope.

No matter whether the cafeteria staff works with concessions, snacks, or lunches, all of the food service workers work together on the clean up of the cafeteria. They all collaborate to make sure everything is running on schedule and get things ready for the next few days.

“Before the lunches we do up any dishes, set the salads and milk out,” Pope said. “And after lunches we wash tables, do the dishes, and make sure the tables get cleaned.”