Eight workers. 250 pounds of food a day. Over 500 people to serve. The job of the Taher staff is very time-consuming, difficult, and important; their work often goes unnoticed.
Starting between 6:30 and 8:00 in the morning, the staff cooks for 2.5 hours to prepare our food. Head Chef David Dahmes says “A lot goes on in the kitchen, and we all do our best to provide everyone with various, healthy options every day.”
Certain strategies are implemented to finish the food in time. Dahmes says that while everything is made fresh for the day, “[they’ll] assemble some items the day before, and then cook them [the day they’re served].” This includes sandwiches for field trips, burritos, and the 80 pizzas created each Tuesday and Thursday. Dahmes also says that they sometimes make the main hot dish in two batches, “just so it’s fresher, and also because we don’t have the space to store all of the food all at once.”
The kitchen consists of two sides, a hot side and a frozen side. The frozen side contains the freezer, a huge walk-in cooler, and is where they make the salads and the deli bar. The other side contains massive kettles, ovens, and tables, for making larger dishes such as the hot line and power bowl. Dahmes says that for just the protein, “it’s about 100 pounds of protein for the main meal, and for the power bowl, it’s usually about 50 pounds.”
Cost plays a big role in the kitchen. Dahmes, who has worked at Edina Public Schools as well, referenced how the school serves much fresher food, but also more expensive food. This includes the “salmon or flank steak or shrimp over [at the power bowl],” which you wouldn’t see at many other schools. Cost is also why only roughly 1/3rd of the pizzas are thick crust; as Dahmes says, “It’s a lot more expensive to do thick crust…So we try to balance them, and not give them out all at once, so it’s not all thick and then all thin.”
While Dahmes has “continued a lot of the items Chef Brett had before [him],” he has already made a couple of changes. This includes getting rid of the unpopular Turkey Tetrazzini. Dahmes says that “it just wasn’t popular, it didn’t look very appealing…and so we ran it twice and decided to cut it.” Dahmes also commented on other dishes, mentioning that “Our easiest meal is probably the baked potato bar…It’s the easiest and it’s one of the ones you guys like the most, so it’s rewarding in that sense.”
In reference to his control over the menu, Dahmes stressed how important feedback is: “I always want to be open to you guys and anything you guys have to say. If you have anything, feel free to stop by.” Another way of giving feedback is through the forms accessed by the QR codes around the school. Michelle Pham ‘27, a Forum member who helped create the form, says that the form is “intended to gather information and feedback on school lunches…that goes directly to Taher staff.”
“They’re probably really tired when they’re making the food,” said Madeline Hou ’26, “but then when they’re plating [the food] on your plates they’re very sweet and nice.”
