Since the start of the school year, the new cafeteria food has been the hot topic of discussion among students. Gone are the warmed up chocolate chip cookies and smoothie bar from the old food vendor, Sodexo, but in their place are new options such as Bubbl’r and expanded choices for students with dietary restrictions.
“I personally think that the chicken Caesar salad is really good, although it is a little cold,” Suzy Avakian ‘26 said. “The new pizza is also an upgrade from before, but I will miss the old cookies. Overall, it definitely was a big change from my last three years here at LT to have so many new options, though I wish that we could somehow include foods from both [vendors].”
New to this year, students can view a comprehensive and frequently updated menu through the “FD MealPlanner” linked on the LT webpage, Avakian said.
“The vendor we have now, Quest, I really enjoy,” Chika Nduka ‘26 said. “I love how they have the rice bowl and sandwich stations where you can choose your toppings. I also love how the prices are stated at each station.”
Despite these feelings for some of the new stations, she still misses the variety of the smoothie station, Nduka said. Not only were the smoothies a nice addition to her lunches, but they could also be consumed throughout the rest of the day.
“I personally really like the new food,” Grace Johnson ‘26 said. “There are more options and the lines are [even] better than last year’s. I think most students are reacting well, the only thing they miss is the smoothie bar and the old warm cookies. However, the [new] cookies are [also] very good.”
Nduka and Johnson are both members of the Principal Student Advisory Committee (PSAC). PSAC is composed of students from different backgrounds who meet once a month with Principal Jennifer Tyrrell to share their voices on changes being made within the school, along with opinions and new ideas on different aspects of LT. In April, the committee was presented with three vendors (Sodexo, Quest, and OrganicLife) and had a food tasting to get the students’ opinions on the foods offered.
“I thought it was a really cool experience to hear each vendor’s plan for changes they wanted to make to the cafeteria,” Nduka said. “All of their food was made fresh and tasted phenomenal as well.”
Johnson also commented on the change in freshness.
“The old food doesn’t compare to the new food; it is so much more fresh this year,” Johnson said. “Trying the new food was super fun. It was cool to hear all of the business people trying to sell things to students.”