The lunch ladies are the heart and soul of lunch, serving up more than just meals. These amazing individuals are the unrecognized staff behind the 700 to 1000 daily trays of nourishment and mixing each lunch period with warmth, care and love. 

The Granite Bay High School lunch ladies are the reason we get to have a nutritious lunch every day so we have the energy to focus on our classes, after-school sports and activities. This year’s school lunch has changed from last year’s lunch, by adding different or new options and a lunch bar where you can see your meal being made right in front of you.

“I have four kids and [work] three and a half hour [shifts] while my kids are in school … and that’s most of the lunch ladies, we have kids,” said Shaline Tirone, the lead lunch lady at Granite Bay High School.

The majority of our cafeteria staff consists of mothers who are either looking to step out of the house to earn extra income or seeking an activity outside of home life. Most of the lunch ladies work for three and a half hours which gives them enough time to prepare the food and serve it to our students. Only two of the lunch ladies work a total of eight hours which is a little challenging with all the work they have to do before every lunch. The process of planning and preparing school lunches each day is based on how many students will eat the school lunch.

“But as far as here at Granite Bay, I want to make sure that you guys like the food we are serving,” said Tirone.

The lunch ladies like to get feedback from students because they want to make sure that the students are eating something good instead of throwing it away. Although they understand that a lot of the lunches get thrown away, they still give lots of respect to the students who enjoy their meals throughout the week.  Most of the students have sports right after school and need a plentiful lunch to stay energized during their practice. Having the right portions in our meals is important which is why they allow us to take as much fruit as we want to either save it for later or eat a little something extra before our extracurricular activities. 

Lunch ladies also have to accommodate students with food allergies. The students with food allergies must make sure they have a medical record that goes through the nurse and straight to the lunch ladies where they can provide a special lunch with whatever the student needs. Even though students with food allergies have their own personal lunch, the school lunch ladies will have lunches ready for them. 

Even though it seems like work to serve food for other people, the lunch ladies enjoy what they do and appreciate all the respectful students who greet them with nice gestures. They like to treat the students as their kids and try to give us as much as possible, making everyone happy.

“We enjoy what we do, and we do it for you guys,” said Tirone.