By Tessa Nacke
As the bell rings for lunch, students rush to the hub of social activity: the cafeteria. Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) student cafeteria workers brace for impact. Thankfully, Patrick Ryan comes to the rescue. As the kitchen manager of FVHS, Ryan is in charge of a myriad of district employees and student workers who get paid for their service.
“I got the job for the school district in March … they had me training every single day,” Ryan said.
Ryan is a true Baron4Life, as he is an FVHS alumnus.
Ryan has always been a food service worker. Previously, he worked at the Fountain Valley Regional Hospital.
“So [working at FVHS] wasn’t the plan. The job was miniaturized. I’ve always had food service forever and for the cover being at the hospital, so the hospital is like a 24 hour [workday], you have to work every single holiday,” Ryan said.
Working at FVHS allows Ryan to use the culinary skills he already has while adjusting to a calmer lifestyle.
Now, this isn’t to say that working at FVHS is calm, by any means. Ryan starts preparing lunches at 10 a.m. with the help of seven employees.
“…Westminster High School and Fountain Valley are the two biggest [schools] … This school has like the biggest, most modern, fully functional kitchen by far,” Ryan said.
While interviewing with Ryan after lunch, there was commotion all around the kitchen. After each lunchtime, Ryan reports to the district detailing all the food sold and given out at lunch time. This provides insights to FVHS’ ‘hunger level’, if you will, and influences future food purchases.
Even throughout all the commotion, the kitchen works like a well-oiled machine; each worker playing a crucial role.
“One [of our workers] will come in two hours before their shift every day to prepare all the stuff for the next day. So that when we get here in the morning, we just pull the speed racks out and we can start cooking … we’re always one day ahead with the amount of meals that we make,” Ryan said.
Ryan mentioned that the lunch process takes a lot of work, but he is glad that he gets the opportunity to feed so many students. But, with every job, there can be some drawbacks. For example, the amount of food wasted by the students.
“…[We are] actually not throwing away food here compared to other places that I’ve worked. We’re pretty efficient. We’re not wasting a lot, and we’re pretty much enabled to serve so many,” Ryan said.
To address this, the cafeteria installed share bins, for kids who need some more food than a normal lunch provides.
Oftentimes these share bins are left untouched, as many prefer the larger and greyer share bin…the trash can. Sometimes the trash may not even reach the trash can, which is evident from the flocks of seagulls and bees present on the FVHS campus.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating because [the cafeteria cleaner] is not their mom, and we use like 10 barrels [cleaning up the mess] … people could connect a face and a person to real side effects. They leave a big mess. Now she has to spend time cleaning,” Ryan said.
Ryan loves to hear student opinions about the school lunch, and he is excited to keep the year going.
“I’m just happy to be here. If anyone else wants to come see what we do, they are more than welcome,” Ryan said.
