In addition to the fresh broccoli, the cafeteria staff has implemented a few other changes. This year, Lihn has introduced a few new items to the menu: stews, soups, and salads.
Prior to assuming the position of Food Services Manager, or as he likes to be called “The Food Dude”, at MVHS, Lihn worked as a gourmet restaurant chef in New York City. Since then, Lihn and District Nutrition Coordinator Bill Schuster have worked together to transition from boxed, processed food to fresh, from scratch meals.
“We make stews, and soups and all kinds of different things from scratch because it’s better, healthier, and sometimes cheaper too. It’s less expensive than buying processed food,” said Lihn.
In addition to making soups and stews from scratch, Lihn and Lundgren now make barbeque sauce, pasta sauce, pancakes, entrees such as pasta and rice, and even salad dressing from scratch. And the list gets longer every year.
Of course, there is a cost to this change. Lihn must arrive at MVHS as early as 5:30 am to begin cooking the fresh items with Lundgren to serve on time to students.
“It’s definitely more labor-intensive, but there’s a certain amount of satisfaction in the efficiency to it because you’re using not a finished product, but raw materials. You’re using everything about those raw materials,” Lihn said.
This year Lihn hopes to provide the students with even more healthy options for lunch, so students will have fresh salads offered from Monday to Wednesday, and soups and stews on Thursday and Friday.
”These are things that I like to do. It’s funny because it’s like killing two birds with one stone. It’s fresh, nutritious, it tastes great, and it makes me happy because I like making soups and stews,” said Lihn. “Those were my specialty when I was training and coming up in the ranks in New York City.”
During the first week of school, nine salads were sold on Monday, 12 on Tuesday, and 18 on Wednesday.
“That to me on the first week of school is a big success because we’re only serving at that one station,” Lihn said.
Although Lihn admits that the current weather is not quite conducive to the new soups and stews, he wants to begin making them so that students are aware that it is available, especially during the cold seasons.
In addition to these specific items, a new menu has also been issued; instead of having two weekly menus, this year MHVS has three. Certain entrees and sides are offered and vary based on the menu for the week. However, Lihn plans to make his new soups, stews, and salads a common appearance every week.
Despite the healthy options offered this year, many upperclassmen have opted to eating lunch off-campus because they do not enjoy the quality or the price of the food offered at MVHS. Senior Nicole Anderson believes that the food offered outside of the school is healthier.
“I don’t eat as much [at the cafeteria] as I did freshmen year. Honestly, I don’t think it’s all that good for you. If you’re going to get healthy food, just go out,” Anderson said.
Lihn also notes that he sees more underclassmen than upperclassmen eating at the cafeteria. But he sees this as an opportunity to retain more customers by offering more variety in the food served.
“Right now I’m seeing a lot of new freshmen and faces coming in. This is where we set the standard for what we need to be consistent about,” said Lihn. “There’s an old rule in restaurant dining: nobody remembers the 20 great meals they had, they only remember the one bad one.”
The cafeteria has also undergone structural changes as well. To ease what Lihn calls “locusts swarming on the crops”, signs have been put up to direct students to lines where certain food is served. Because Lihn needed more assistance back in the kitchen, he had to close one of the stations, meaning that the staff had quickly adjust to serving more students in one area than usual.
“[The cafeteria staff] don’t have to work harder, they have to work smarter,” said Lihn. “We have to make sure they have enough stuff so that they don’t have to run during the middle of the shift. Nobody likes change, but inevitably it comes.”
