Positive reviews

The reviews are in.

The new school lunches are a hit.

Today marks three weeks since the start of the 2019-20 school year, which brought with it the introduction of Chartwells taking over management of Jay School Corporation’s food service.

During visits to Jay County High School, Redkey Elementary and East Jay Middle School this week, students were asked a simple question: What do you think of the new school lunch?

The responses, especially regarding the quality of the food, were almost entirely positive.

“Oh my gosh, it’s the best,” said Redkey fifth grader Brooklyn Zimmerman.

“I like the lunch. It’s pretty good,” East Jay seventh grader Isaiah Aparicio said. “Last year it wasn’t as good. It was really mushy and stuff, but this year they’ve got some pretty good food.”

“I’m actually really impressed by it,” said JCHS senior Carter Mitchell. “I feel like it’s more fresh, and we have a lot more choices.”

One of the reasons Jay School Board decided to use an outside firm to handle its food service was the expectation that the company’s ability to buy in larger quantities would result in a better quality product.

Based on students’ comments this week, that theory has come to fruition.

Students raved not only about the quality of typical student favorites like pizza — East Jay Middle School students were thrilled to have that option on the menu every day — they also listed the variety of fruits and vegetables as favorites. A group of boys at Redkey were fans of the watermelon, while just a few tables away fifth grade girls named grapes and oranges as favorite items. At all three schools, the yogurt parfaits received high marks as well.

When it came to complaints, they focused on two areas — long lines and cost for added items, especially at JCHS.