For most people, making interesting food for 3,000 students would be a daunting task, but for School Nutrition Services Team Lead Julie Barnes, it’s something she strives for. This year, Barnes hopes to achieve this by embracing family favorites in the school setting.
Right now, the North Penn cafeteria offers 22 different food items during lunch. Barnes wants to diversify these options with the introduction of family recipes with “trying to bring home here.”
“Bring your recipe to me, ask for Mrs. Julie, and then we can feature that recipe.” – Barnes stated.
In addition to family recipes, Barnes works to provide variety everywhere. Frequent customers to the cookie corner may have noticed a voting system for the new ice cream flavors, which Barnes intends to be a weekly routine.
“There’s probably 15 or 20 different flavors that we can have, and the kids really seem to like it. Now we have a little bin for the students to vote on what the next specialty flavor should be. Once we’re done with that week’s special flavor, we’ll do another vote for the next flavor and we’ll keep doing it because I want the students to have input, and I want them to like what we’re doing.” – Barnes stated.
With almost 30 years working in the food service industry, Barnes obtained an appreciation and love for her job, seeing it as a second home. One of her favorite aspects of her job is making food that students enjoy.
“I love interacting with the students, which is why we do our Taste it Tuesday, and I love when the students come in and they’re excited about what we have,”- Barnes enthused.
While she has become a professional taste tester here at North Penn, Barnes also enjoys food outside of school.
“Outside of here, my favorite food to eat is Italian Delight sausage pizza; here I really like our Knights Chicken Bowl and the Maxx Sticks,”- Barnes said.
Barnes oversees a lot of the behind-the-scenes in the cafeteria, to the point where she has become a necessity to North Penn nutritional services.
“I change the menu signs for lines 3 and 4, bring the trash cans out, then I have some office hours where one thing I have to do is trying to figure out if this person’s out, then who do I need to bring there, and where might I need to fill in. I do a board of health check, go around making sure our refrigerator’s at the proper temperature, and if it’s not I correct it immediately because obviously food safety is our top priority, then I’ll go check in on all my staff, see how they’re doing. There’s a lot of things that come up, so I just make sure as those things come up they get taken care of,” – Barnes said.
After a long day of making food for students, Barnes enjoys riding her bike, playing with her guinea pigs, and reading thriller books. She hopes to make the cafeteria move enjoyable and interactive for all students this year. Students should reach out to her if they have any recommendations or ideas.