By Julia Atansio-Villa ’28 and Lizzie Raccio ’29
For many KO students, lunch isn’t just a break between classes. It is a chance to recharge, catch up with friends, and fuel for the rest of the day. This year, students have noticed something different about what is on their plates. From fresher food to more flavorful meals, the dining experience this year has become a topic of conversation across campus.
Students at KO this year have noticed the food being more flavourful, fresher, and just overall better from years past. The main reason for this is Head Chef Keith Garfield. This article will explore the people and everyday process behind the scenes in the kitchen at KO. The food students are served in the dining hall each day is the result of planning, preparation, and the work of a kitchen led by a chef with years of experience in culinary and school dining.
Chef Garfield attended Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., for culinary school. After graduating, he worked in different restaurants in the San Diego area and even had the opportunity to work at the Hotel del Coronado as executive sous chef under celebrity chef Robert Irvine. A job opportunity at Mohegan Sun brought him back to his home state of Connecticut, where he was born and raised. He worked as an executive sous chef there for about five years until he had a child and left that line of work due to the intense work hours.
He then moved to the corporate world of dining, where he worked at The Hartford first as the executive chef but later as the general manager. In 2009, he got into independent school dining; the first school he worked at was St. Thomas More, an all-boys school in Oakdale, Conn.. He then worked at various other boarding schools in Connecticut including Choate, Cheshire Academy, and Loomis Chaffee for the last eight years. When the opportunity arose to work at a day school, he jumped right on it, excited for a different experience from all the boarding schools
KO dining service is provided by Sage Dining, a family-owned food service company for about 500 schools, based in Baltimore, Md. It specializes in dining at educational institutions, including many independent schools in Connecticut. Chef Keith has been working with them for about nine years and has now become a district manager. According to Chef Keith, Sage Dining is a great company because they care more about finding schools that they know they will work well with instead of just the business and money side of things.
While Sage Dining provides the broader program, the daily work of preparing and serving lunch depends on the staff working in KO’s kitchen. The KO kitchen has a staff of six employees, which is much smaller than Garfield is used to. The team is composed of a new lead cook, who started in the fall this year, and it is his first time working in the school setting, which is an adjustment from what he is used to, which required traveling. There are also two utility people who work in the dishroom and do some simple preparation of meals such as chopping vegetables. There are also three other cooks who help to prepare and serve the meals.
Every day, these six start their day early, around 9 in the morning. In an effort to stay prepared and proactive, the first thing they do is start preparing the next day’s food. Then they will move into preparing the food for that day. And just like that, it’s lunchtime, and they have the food ready. Finally, they clean it up and do it all over again the next day.
Beyond coordinating the kitchen, Chef Garfield also has to decide what will be on the menu and how to balance students’ preferences with nutrition. To help with this, KO uses a cycle menu to help organize meals. When Garfield first arrived, he was still learning about the kitchen staff’s experience and abilities. He initially kept the menu relatively simple while the staff settled into their roles.
A registered dietitian oversees the menu and helps to ensure there is an appropriate mix of foods. The team must balance familiar foods the students enjoy with healthy, nutritious options. The staff is aware of the intense academic and athletic day students at KO endure, and they want to fuel the students for the day. As the school year progresses and the staff gets more comfortable in their roles, he hopes to introduce more exciting dishes to the menu.
As students pass through the dining hall each day, many have noticed the change Chef Garfield and his team have made. For some, the difference is not necessarily one particular meal, but the smaller details make lunch feel fresher and more varied. Junior Annie Woods said she had noticed more elaborate options, especially at the salad bar. “The food is a lot more fancy this year,” she said. “The salad bar has mozzarella balls and feta, and the desserts have gotten better.” The salad bar offers students a way to put together a meal that fits their own preferences. Those choices can be especially important in a school dining hall, where the kitchen serves students with a wide range of tastes.
For students who eat lunch at school almost every day (underclassmen who can’t leave campus), a new meal or topping can give students something different to look forward to, particularly when they have little time between classes and afternoon activities.
Junior Riya Sekeran has also noticed changes in both the variety and quality of the meals. “I have been noticing more variety of food options, and the quality of food seems better,” she said. Her observation reflects one of the challenges Chef Garfield and his team face when planning the menu: keeping the lunch interesting while also offering food that students will want to eat. With so many different preferences in the dining hall, a meal that excites one student may not appeal to another. Offering a range of food choices gives more students the opportunity to find something they enjoy.
Still, not every change has been popular with students. When asked about the food this year, seventh-grader Audrey Rigueur pointed out one item she misses. “They removed the ice cream bar,” she said.
In previous years, the ice cream bar had offered students the chance to create their pwn dessert. The kitchen would scoop ice cream into bowls and provide a variety of toppings including, hot fudge, caramel, Oreos, sprinkles, and cherries. Students could customize their own sundaes, making it a favorite dessert on campus.
Although the sundae bar is no longer available, students now have daily access to a freezer stocked with a variety of ice cream bars and popsicles. While this gives students more consistent access to frozen treats and a wider selection of options, some still miss the experience of building their own ice cream sundae.
Together, the students’ responses show how differently people can experience the same dining hall. One student may appreciate the new salad toppings, another may notice a wider variety of meals, and another may miss a favorite dessert. These options are part of what makes feeding an entire school a complicated task; there is no single menu that will satisfy everyone.
For Chef Garfield, planning those meals also means thinking beyond what students want to eat at the moment. The kitchen has to consider the role lunch plays in the rest of the school day. KO students move from class to class and often continue on to sports, rehearsals, clubs, or other commitments. Lunch provides a chance to pause, but it also has to give them the energy to keep going.
That is where balance between appealing food and nutrition becomes important. With guidance from a registered dietitian, the dining team works to include a mix of food throughout its cycle. At the same time, Garfield wants students to enjoy what they are eating. A nutritious meal may be carefully planned, but it also needs to appeal to the students who are choosing whether to put it on their plates.
His first months have also been a period of adjustment for the kitchen staff. Chef Garfield arrived with years of experience at boarding schools, but KO’s day school setting offers a different routine. He has also had to get to know a smaller team, including a lead cook who is new to working in a school.
As Chef Garfield becomes more familiar with KO, student feedback can help him understand the community he is cooking for. A chef may bring years of experience to a kitchen, but learning what students enjoy takes time. Their reactions to new dishes can offer insight into which meals they would like to see again and which could be adjusted. Students also have different ideas about what makes a good lunch. In order to listen to those ideas, Chef Garfeild plans to put a feedback box in the cafeteria where students can share there perspectives to help shape a dining program that feels responsive to the community.
As the school year continues, Chef Garfield and his team hope to bring more dishes to the dining hall while learning what KO students enjoy. Their work begins hours before lunch and continues after the last plate has been cleared. Students may not see every step that goes into preparing their meals, but many have noticed the results, from the variety of options to the additions at the salad bar. And while some students still miss the ice cream sundae bar, the conversations about lunch show how much this daily part of school life matters to the KO community.
