Behind The Scenes: From prep to plate - serving thousands

With an operating budget of $4-5 million for the district each year, the school cafeterias are vital in providing food to thousands of students. But beyond the long lunch lines, the behind-the-scenes operation of the school cafeteria is complex and intricate, coming with logistical challenges that are often overlooked.

On any given school day, the school district serves an average of 2,000 breakfast portions and 4,800 lunches. Serving that many meals requires careful planning and a well-coordinated system, which is why the process of bringing food to students begins months in advance. For everyday items like produce, bread and frozen goods, the kitchen manager at Samo’s cafeteria places orders for both Santa Monica High School as well as for elementary schools in the district. These orders are placed about two months in advance, ensuring everything arrives on time and in the necessary quantities. On the other hand, raw products like fruits and vegetables are ordered and processed by a central system about a year before they reach the schools. Not all raw ingredients are sent out for processing; around 35% are kept in-house for use directly at the school sites, ensuring a balance of fresh ingredients.

The high school kitchen prepares meals for high school students and the district’s elementary schools, where the kitchen space is smaller. The high school staff handles much of the bulk prep, which is then sent to the elementary schools for final preparation. Pasta, for example, is handled in two separate facilities, with the pasta sauce being prepped in the high school kitchens, and the pasta itself being prepared in the elementary schools.

New items are also regularly introduced to make the cafeteria experience more enjoyable. Richard Marchini, director of food services for the district, explained more about the long process involved in creating new items.

“Developing new recipes takes about 4 months,” Marchini said. “We will normally menu a new item at least 2 per month for 3-4 months to see how the items are perceived. Once we develop a recipe we run it through our nutritional analysis software to make sure it is compliant with all the requirements for each grade level.”

Once a new dish is made, feedback is important in determining its success. However, when trying new items that cater to specific diets, like vegetarian or vegan meals, it can be trickier to gauge student interest. The cafeteria staff relies on student and staff input to fine-tune new items and decide if they should be added to the permanent menu.

Sabrina Kachurka, a cafeteria worker at the school kitchen, explained more about the feedback process.

“We try and make stuff that we think that students would like, and if we introduce a new item and it goes quick we know it was popular and we try to bring it in more, and we also like when you guys give us input,” she said.

Because so much needs to be done, the workers at the cafeteria arrive early in the morning. Angelica Bustamante, a cafeteria worker at the school kitchen, shares how her day is scheduled.

“I usually arrive at 6:30 or sometimes even earlier and it usually goes until 2:30-3:30 pm,” Bustamante said. ”It’s just breakfast, prepping, cooking and making sure that food goes out on time to the students.”

With all of the tireless work put into the kitchen, the school cafeteria has become a beloved hub for students. Students like Triston Lambert (‘26), notice the importance of the cafeteria in their daily lives. Lambert gives his take on the cafeteria, sharing the positive effect he has felt.

“I enjoy the cafeteria because you can eat different things every day, and there’s a lot of variety,” Lambert said. “The cafeteria also feels better managed this year, so it’s great.”