Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Is it a food court or a school cafeteria?
30 choices on the menu
The test was tough: How to get kids to eat in the school cafeteria. The answer: Make it look like a food court you would find in a mall.
Palm Beach County schools are converting five cafeterias, adding colorful signs, catchy restaurant names and quick-moving lines. They offer 30 choices a day, ranging from stir-fried chicken to Jamaican beef patties to hamburgers and pizza.
Principals have rearranged schedules so students get at least 30 minutes to eat, up from 20 minutes at some schools, hoping for a semi-leisurely lunch period when kids have time to eat these extensively researched meals.
“This is much better than it used to be,” said Austin Ochoa, 17, a senior at Santaluces High west of Lantana, who said he buys a ground-turkey taco each day. “There used to
be only one thing you could buy.”
Officials hope to convert one cafeteria each year until all high schools have eating areas that resemble food courts.
Atlantic High in Delray Beach was the first to get a new setup in 2011. Santaluces switched in 2015, and Palm Beach Central High in Wellington just opened its new style cafeteria. Forest Hill High in West Palm Beach and Royal Palm Beach High have also received makeovers in recent years.
All schools chosen so far have large numbers of students qualifying for freeand reduced-price lunches, an indicator of poverty. At Santaluces, that’s about three-fourths of the student body.
The renovations appear to be a success. At Santaluces, 52 percent of students bought lunch last year, up from 44 percent before the redesign. Breakfast participation also has improved, from 23 percent to 27 percent.
As many parents know, it’s often difficult to get a teenager to eat breakfast. Many say they’re not hungry or would rather sleep later. But numerous studies have shown students who eat breakfast can concentrate on their work and perform better in school.
School officials say cafeteria lunches are often healthier than what teens bring from home. The midday meal also gives kids energy, raising their blood sugar levels when they begin to drag from a morning of classes.
But while the food courts appear to be getting additional students to eat in Palm Beach County, the concept did not work in Miami-Dade schools.
“We tested it [a few years ago} and turned back,” said Thomas Holmberg, a food service supervisor. “We found kids liked those [traditional] hot meals,” rather than the cold wraps and sandwiches presented in the mall-style kiosks.
Broward schools began building food courts in 2002. Fifteen high schools now offer them, and the district hopes to build them eventually in every high school, said Darlene Moppert, program manager for nutrition education and training.
The redesigns are not cheap. They cost between $600,000 and $900,000, paid for by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program, said Allison Monbleau, Palm Beach County schools’ food services director. Expenses include redesigned kitchens, and new signs, video screens and cash registers.
Lunch in Palm Beach County costs $2.30, no matter what a student orders. In Broward and MiamiDade, a high school meal costs $2.50. Breakfast is free in all counties for everyone.
Marnor Potosme, Santaluces food service manager, said the cafeteria is still figuring out exactly what students want to eat in the food court.
A hummus platter with chopped vegetables was a flop last year; meanwhile, the cafeteria can’t buy enough Jamaican beef patties, served in an empanada, he said.
Santaluces sophomore Noah Mahan said he has been surprised by the consistent quality of the lunches. He recently sampled the Italian sub from the Gourmet Deli kiosk and a chicken stir-fry from the Asian Xperience.
“My friend was just telling me how there used to be only one thing you could order,” said Mahan, 16. “I’ve been trying everything. It’s all good.”