While many students are busy hitting the snooze button on their morning alarms, manager Victoria Baca is already active at work dishing up breakfast for students. Alongside her Taher Inc. food services teammates, this is just the start of a full day as a lunch lady.
As the sun rises, Baca arrives at around 7:30 a.m. She wastes no time preparing for the day ahead right as she walks in.
“I come in the morning and I get ready for breakfast,” Baca said. “Then I get ready for all of the things we’re going to do for the afternoon – cookies, sandwiches, wraps, fruits and vegetables.”
The cooks start an hour earlier than Baca to have meals ready to serve when the early bird students arrive. Baca explains how she contributes to the morning rush at the register.
“I mainly do the cashier in the morning, but I also help a bit with the breakfast,” Baca said.
Although her interactions are limited to the lunchroom, Baca explains that a highlight of her job is engaging with the students that she has gotten familiar with over their time in high school.
“I love interacting with the kids,” Baca said. “It’s nice to see you guys (students) grow up over the years.”
Baca has served the community for seven years. In that time, two classes have started as freshmen and graduated. She says that watching the classes grow up is the most special part of her job.
As soon as breakfast is over, the staff cleans up and begins working on many tasks that include but are not limited to prepping “Angela’s specials”, stacking trays of cookie dough or cutting up fresh ingredients to fold into wraps. It can be a challenge to dish up the food daily, but the biggest challenge for Baca is to make sure that students are enjoying their cuisine choices.
“A challenge is to make sure everything’s ready and it’s something the students will like,” Baca said. “We like a lot of feedback – it keeps us going.”
These challenges do not take away from the joy Baca finds in her work environment. She claims that the atmosphere makes the day fly by and that her coworkers come together for holidays.
“We celebrate everyone’s birthdays in the kitchen and celebrate all the holidays together,” Baca said. “It’s fun because there’s a lot of camaraderie that we build.”
Around noon, the kitchen staff spends time cleaning students’ messes in the cafeteria while also setting up for the next day ahead.
“We pick up, go home and wait till the next day to start it all over again,” Baca said. “Nobody sees how much we fit into the day to make sure the students enjoy the food because that is our main priority.”
