What is it like to be a cafeteria worker at South? Is it tiring? Does it come with many challenges? Or is it the complete opposite?

Cafeteria manager Joey Lovstad, who is on her second year in the position, said South “is a good environment, and all of the ladies in the kitchen work well as a team most days.” She also said that “some days we get overloaded with work, and with 13 ladies running around the kitchen, it can lead to arguments or people not getting along very well.”

Lovstad said one downside to working in the school cafeteria industry is when there is a food shortage.

Lovstad said that she and her team “struggle constantly with not having enough food throughout the day, so we are forced to give out food from the day before or the food scheduled for tomorrow, and that’s why most kids feel as if we are handing out the same lunch every day.”

Have you ever heard a song you recognize while waiting in line for your lunch? Lovstad said she and her team always play the music they love during the day.

Additionally, “we are always willing to take song requests from students; it helps us pass the time while we are working.”

Another interesting event that happens in the South cafeteria is what Lovstad calls “food testing.” Food testing is when the cooks experiment with making new meals or adding their own little touches to existing meals.

Lovstad said her team is always “aiming for more cultural meals that we think the students will enjoy, and we want to give them the familiarity of foods they eat at home.”

Lovstad said she arrives each day at 5:45 a.m. to check on the kitchen and make sure everything is running smoothly. Later at 6 a.m., the other workers come and begin their cooking.

“The lunch ladies hand out about 2,300 lunches a day on average,” Lovstad said, but the day of the partial power outage, the cafeteria team could only hand out a little more than 1,500 lunches.

Lovstad stated that “all of the freezers, ovens and fridges were not working so we couldn’t hand out hot lunches.” But at the end of the day, she added, “we made it through and fed every kid who came in line wanting something to eat.”

Lovstad ended by saying the team all works together well and overcomes their challenges with commuication and team work.