Every day the cafeteria crew serves thousands of meals to students at our school, but what happens behind the counter to make this a reality? Rachelle Dalisay, one of the kitchen leads in charge of overseeing the daily food operations, talked about her daily work, teamwork, and dedication that keep the cafeteria running.
Dalisay’s day starts at 6:15 a.m., by firing up equipment, performing temperature checks, opening the registers, and checking emails, she said.
“Every day is different. Sometimes we don’t have the ingredients we need and have to adjust,” she said.
Special schedule days, like rally days or AP exam days, add another layer of difficulty, requiring the team to extend hours and adjust workflow, Dalisay said.
Things don’t always go right, sometimes equipment breaks and there is nothing they can do at that moment, she explained.”If something breaks, we have to think quickly,” Dalisay said.
Dalisay recalls a time when one skillet in the pasta line stopped working. The group resorted to stovetop cooking in smaller batches – a slow process that required a tremendous team effort to stay on schedule, she said.
Teamwork is the most important thing of the cafeteria’s operations. Each team member has a designated role, and they support one another to ensure the job gets done, Dalilsay said.
“Everyone focuses on their target for the day,” Dalisay said. “If someone falls behind, we step in to help.”
Managing the time is the hardest part of the job, sometimes they run out of time, Dalisay said.
“ We need to meet the count because we’re serving like 1600 right now. Meals, breakfast and lunch. So we need to make it on time, because there’s a time frame” she said.
A lot of people think cooking is the hardest part, but it is not. It is the unpacking of the food and equipment, Dalisay said.
While the job is demanding, it’s also deeply fulfilling, Dailsay said. Students’ simple acts of gratitude — like saying “thank you” or complimenting a meal — makes a huge difference, she added.
“It’s the simple things, but they mean a lot, especially when you’re working so hard,” Dalisay said.
Emotional moments with students make her job incredibly rewarding, she said.
A student aide “told me, ‘Working here changed me a lot.’ On his last day, he cried and promised to come back to visit,” Dalisay said.
However, she wishes that the cafeteria staff received more recognition, she said.
“Sometimes people don’t notice us,” Dalisay said. “We’re also employees, and we play a big part in the school. When you come to school hungry, you can’t focus. We’re the ones filling that need.”
Right after lunch ends, we clean up and we go to our second job, Dalisay said. “After lunch we clean the kitchen and many of us go to our second job. I work for the city” she said.
Despite the challenges, Dalisay takes pride in her work, she said.
This might be a hard job, but it’s always nice to see the students eat and enjoy the food we make, she explained.