Within the first six months of the school year, the Revere Local School District lunch staff served 113,083 meals. The dedicated lunch team work hard to make this happen.
The process begins with Revere’s district-wide nutrition consultant Aaron Gnap. Gnap, who has worked at Revere for six years, is responsible for making sure all menu items are nutritious and healthy.
“I am in charge of all four kitchens, so I create the menus and develop new recipes. We change menus almost every week at different locations, because here or there, there are things that do not sell. I am in charge of hiring and making sure we are in compliance with the government regulations,” Gnap said.
Gnap also works with the head cook at Revere High School (RHS), Ricardo Alaimo, to develop recipes.
“Usually between Aaron and me, we will work on most recipes,” Alaimo said.
Alaimo, who has been the head chef at RHS for 11 years, said that he has been cooking his whole life. Alaimo, along with the six cooks he oversees, make around 300 meals per day.
Denise Timpone, one of the cashiers at the RHS café, oversees the purchases of lunches. In her nine years at Revere, Timpone has noticed how students appreciate having a lunch staff that cares about them.
“We have friendly staff who actually really care about the students. It’s always fun for me to greet everybody every morning. You get to know them as they grow in years,” Timpone said.
The staff tries to create lunches that the students will enjoy, trying different ingredients and recipes while also following government guidelines.
“Our head cook [Alaimo] is always looking to try new items to see if students like them. The biggest challenge would be finding the right combinations for meals that the students want to buy, because the more meals that are purchased, the better it is for the kitchen bottom line,” Timpone said.
“I would like more feedback on the students and what they would want to eat. If there is something that we do not serve but they want us to, I would love to know,” Alaimo said.
Gnap explained how the staff has to balance giving students what they want, and following government requirements.
“They [government regulations] change almost yearly. That is why some of the things that you like from years past go away. It is not because we are getting rid of them, it is because they do not meet the regulation anymore. We have to change ingredients, and we have to change items out altogether to meet those challenges. You have to tailor each menu to whatever the new regulation is, and they do change quite often,” Gnap said.
Despite the challenges, the staff serves 900 students every school day. Working hard, they provide a carefully crafted menu that caters to all students with a variety of options.
