Transitioning to the 2018-2019 year, many changes were made to the cafeteria. Students have noticed some different food options being served and more variety. Students have also noticed a difference in the look and taste from the usual foods, such as burgers and pizza this year.

“We don’t have a food service anymore. We’re self-ops, which means that we make our menus,” kitchen manager Heather McMahan said.

Rather than having one company provide the cafeteria food, the cafeteria now buys from multiple providers to craft their own menus, meaning they have plenty of freedom when choosing what to serve.

McMahon stressed that the cafeteria is making more home-made food, instead of buying processed and pre-made food.

Students seem to have mixed opinions about the food this year compared to last year.

“For the most part, the food just tastes better in general, especially the pizza,” Gabe Amaro said.

Senior Robby Scannevin said, “The food is more or less the same, though sometimes it’s better. One thing I’m not a fan of is the different cookies and the different milk.”

Another major change made this year is the discontinuation of ice cream sandwiches. The ice cream sandwiches were fan-favorite treats students had the option of buying. The lack of them this year left many disappointed and wondering why.

“I was pretty disappointed to see that the cafeteria doesn’t sell ice cream sandwiches anymore. I always brought money just for those, and I would look forward to eating one after lunch every day,” senior Brett Daley said. “Now that they have taken them out of the cafeteria, I am slightly less enthusiastic when it comes to lunch time.”

“We have state regulations that we have to follow, and [ice-cream sandwiches] were one of the foods that are not state-regulated,” McMahon explained.

Another change made to the cafeteria was the implementation of a new payment system software, called Mozaik.

According to McMahon, the system that was used before Mozaik was unreliable and caused many problems, which is what prompted this change.

Mozaik is a more modernized program that has online capabilities, making it much more convenient to manage purchases made in the cafeteria.