As WIS enters the hybrid model, the food program is drastically different from last year. With WIS no longer operating the IB cafe, grill, or hot meals this year, students and faculty will have to adapt to the changes.
Brock Co. will supply boxed meals for anyone who opts in on the Thursday before their cohort goes to campus for a price of $9 a day.
“It costs us more to run the lunch program than what we charge people for the food. So the fact that you get a main dish, two sides and a drink for nine dollars, we thought that was a reasonable price given the cost of lunch in general,” Bethany Neumann, Chief Financial Officer, said.
Utilizing MyKidsSpending, students can choose between different sandwiches and salads. For example, on the first day of hybrid learning, October 5, students are given a choice between a roast turkey and swiss sandwich on a pretzel roll, a buffalo chicken wrap, or a caesar salad. Then, students can choose between pretzels or chips, and choose a drink. Finally, a rice krispy treat is given to all students.
“I wanted to be creative with what we were able to offer because we’re not able to offer the hot entrees we did before,” Brock chef Kenzig Rufino said.
Students will pick up their food from a few different locations on campus, instead of going to the student center. This is just one of the safety protocols the Brock team is using to minimize contact between students and workers.
“We want to make sure we’re not having too much customer to customer contact, everything’s going to be put into a bag with the information of the orders for each person who ordered it. We’re going to be distributing it to pick up locations at the upper school on the Tregaron campus. At the primary school, we’ll be taking [meals] into classrooms,” Rufino said.
As meal pickups will look a lot different for health reasons, there are other precautions the food staff is taking. Now, there are only four members of the Tregaron food team to help cook, and their kitchen has been expanded to where the salad bar used to be in order to have a more socially distant workplace.
“In addition to chef Kenzig we have four Brock employees who will be on campus every day. That includes [IB cafe worker Freh Tesfaye],” Neumann said.
Due to safety measures and risks associated with reopening, the IB cafe and grill will not be of service upon the return to campus.
“With the reopening plan, we have a few different risk levels. And so based on what risk level we’re at, we have certain policies and procedures we’re following. And one of the things we decided was trying to limit the number of people who are coming to campus each day, again, to keep everyone safe and healthy,” Neumann said.
As of September 30, 56 students opted for the Brock bagged lunches. Chef Kenzig hopes this number will reach 150 after students see the food that is being put out.
“It was really trying to make sure that we created enough variety for you know, all different pallets, while at the same time maintaining a simple idea to start with, and be able to build on it as you know, the circumstances change,” Rufino said.
