Bustling School Lunches Are Back

→ By Titus Lee (24’) NEWS

With a new online ordering system, busier lunch periods and new menu items, HBA’s meal service began the new school year with a number of changes. Unlike the past two years—when Covid-19 social distancing protocols necessitated staggered lunch periods—all high school students now eat lunch during the same period on most days of the week. These changes led to long lines in the first weeks of school, as well as the fact that students were given an automatic $150 food credit this year.

a welcome change. Jensen Manuel, manager of FLIK (HBA’s dining service provider), explained his staff’s new workflow, “Every morning, we check how much has been ordered and start preparing meals. Because the online ordering cut off time is at 10 a.m. the same day, we periodically check if orders have increased and make our adjustments to our prep. We do a final check after 10 a.m. to make sure that we have enough for the orders and for those that haven’t pre-ordered.”

Top: With combined lunch periods, free lunch credits and new menu items, the first weeks of school saw long lunch lines.

Bottom: “Build-A-Bowl” is a new menu item that allows students to select from different entree items to “build” a complete meal.

“In general, I think that [“Build-A-Bowl”] is a good idea, but I don’t know if the execution of it is that great,” said junior Brendan Aoki after about two weeks of school. “Build-A-Bowl” is a new menu item that allows students to select from different entree items to “build” a complete meal. While many students have enjoyed the option, the customization led to long lines at first. “Some days it’s good. Sometimes it’s not the best and it takes kind of long,” said Rayden Dacuycuy, also a junior. Classmate Ty Koch, on the other hand, is unfazed. “It’s the love of my life!” he said.

Students and faculty now order food with the new online order feature on the MyEagle website, and the new same-day cutoff time—10 a.m.—has been

As the first quarter comes to a close, the lines have settled down, and Manuel is pleased with the outcome. “Managing the long lines has been challenging. We are glad to see that lunch participation has increased, and we are thankful for that. We’ve had to make a few adjustments to help with keeping up with the lines. I was actually able to clock how long it would take to go through the line one day, and I have to say that serving 150 lunches in ten minutes is a pretty amazing feat by any standard,” he said.

Vice Principal Jeri Tsuha has been assisting with lunch time logistics, helping to expedite pre-order pick-ups. As part of their lunch duty responsibilities, faculty and staff have been assigned to help with line management and to remind students to clean up after themselves. To help the lunch line move quickly, Tsuha offered this advice to students, “When you come to buy lunch, you should have some idea of what you may want; [or] look at the menu online and preorder a poke or acai bowl and other things.”