Beyond Chicken Nuggets: Managing a Cafeteria
When you envision a future for yourself in the food industry, a career in cafeteria management might not make it into your daydreams. Sadly, this profession doesn’t attract the glamour or celebrity status of other jobs in the culinary world, however many would argue that cafeteria managers have as much, if not more, potential to impact the mouths they feed than their famous peers.
As the first line of defense against the growing epidemic of childhood obesity, cafeteria managers in schools across the nation have a responsibility and opportunity to provide balanced, healthy nutrition to the next generation.
Rhiannon Hampson-Joven, manager of a high-school cafeteria that feeds 300 students daily, finds plenty of opportunities to help her diners stay healthy, from ordering trans-fat free cookies and fried foods to providing healthy and vegetarian choices for the students she feeds.
Hampson-Joven’s advice to aspiring cafeteria managers? “When it comes to certain things that you have total control over [i.e. sourcing healthier foods], try to be as assertive as possible with the administration, because it really is worth it.”
Finding ways to educate the holders of the purse strings to ensure budgetary support of higher-priced, healthy options can be challenging, but with the academic background in nutrition, health, and menu-planning offered by culinary arts schools, your powers of persuasion will be that much more convincing.
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The school cafeteria needs a healthy creative makeover. This is a great opportunity for someone in this field.