Serving Hot & Healthy Meals with a Side of Smiles

 

Olivia Teav and Sarah Cavanaugh are the polar opposites of the grouchy, grumbling lunch ladies typically portrayed in children’s books or on television. Not only are the two close coworkers constantly cracking each other up as they serve up nearly 300 healthy meals a day at Verne Duncan Elementary, they also solicit laughs in the hot lunch line from students…or at least a few eye rolls.

“Kids like to tell me what they’re ordering as they come through the line,” explains Cavanaugh.  “So they get in front of me and they’ll say ‘I’m pizza’ or ‘I’m salad,’ and I’ll say, ‘That’s funny, you look like a first grader to me.’”

Yet making sure NCSD’s schools are ready to serve more than 11,000 healthy breakfasts and lunches each day is no laughing matter. The district has two “base kitchens” strategically located at different school sites, which serve as food preparation hubs before menu items are sent off to schools long before breakfast begins. 

“We’re always the first ones in the building at 5:00 a.m.,” says Cavanaugh. “Since Duncan is a base kitchen, we’re getting food ready for other schools for the first hour and a half-ish, and it’s a little chaotic but it’s perfect because it wakes you up.  You don’t even need coffee!”

The Duncan kitchen team, recognized as NCSD’s Team of the Year in 2024, says there’s no caffeine needed to keep cafeteria workers on their toes during up to five lunch periods a day at some schools.

“I love the kids,” says Teav, who prides herself on knowing the favorite food choices of most of her daily visitors.  “I have three grandkids of my own, and I feel like this is the job for me because I’m like the grandma of this school, so I’ve been loving it ever since I started.”