Previously removed from the school cafeteria due to a high sugar content, the juices returned after popular demand. A catering company ASL contracts called BaxterStorey supplements the juices, which were amended to be of more nutritional value. 

The food in the cafeteria is either made at ASL by BaxterStorey or it’s purchased from other sources the company uses. The grab and go sandwiches represent the hybrid nature of the cafeteria as some of the sandwiches are made at ASL whereas others are bought from an outside sandwich provider.

This year the cafeteria introduced new juices, which are made at ASL. To make the juices “the company has developmental chefs and they come up with various recipes for the juices,” Kent said.

Kent and the entire catering company must follow specific regulations when choosing certain products to serve in the cafeteria, specifically with regards to the types of meat. “We have to follow BaxterStorey regulations, I can’t just randomly go to the market and buy meat, because you’ve got to be able to trace it and know that it’s of a good quality and been prepared in a clean environment,” Kent said. 

Some products are sourced locally, such as the bagels that come from local deli Panzers.

Besides the regulations that Baxterstorey places on Kent, she also has to follow regulations from the school. ASL does not want to sell products that contain chocolate, due to the high sugar content. As a result the school no longer sells granola bars and flapjacks.

The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) has concrete guidelines for food safety. “We have health and safety checks, we have hygiene checks, and [they check] that we are complying with food safety and health and safety regulations,” Kent said.

Although juices have now been brought back after they were taken away, the school still would prefer not to offer juices in the cafeteria due their high sugar content. “The school ideally would not like us to do juices,” Kent said.

Despite the numerous regulations placed on the cafeteria, Alexander Kyprios (’19) enjoys the variety of food available. “The thing I like most about the cafeteria is the amount of choices they have, you can have so many different things there,” Kyprios said.

Marco Kelly (’18) disagrees with the availability of food choices. He finds on Thursdays when the cafeteria regularly serves curry that his options are limited and in general, “there’s not enough variety.”

Overall, Kelly believes the quality of food could improve. “It’s tolerable, but it’s not the best,” he said.

Kelly eats at the cafeteria infrequently, but even that is more than he would like. “I would prefer every day to go out, rather than stay in the cafeteria,” Kelly said. 

While Surya Dhir (’17) also believes the food in the cafeteria isn’t as good as the food available elsewhere, he finds criticism of the food in the cafeteria unfair. “I think it gets a bad rap. I think it’s pretty good,” Dhir said.