Morris High School Board approves new lunch provider

The Morris Community High School Board approved a new lunch provider Monday night, paying Quest Food Management $40,000 to run the school cafeteria.

Quest replaces the current provider, Taher, Inc. Elizabeth Shields, Morris High School’s Chief Business Official, said Quest received glowing reviews from her colleagues at other districts, and now has been a good time for district’s to switch providers since the COVID-19 era extensions are ending.

“We’ve been having some ongoing issues with our current vendor, and this year has gotten to be very expensive,” Shields said. “We’ve had issues with the staffing and retention of our staff, our quality of food, the portion sizing, and what’s being fed to our free and reduced students.”

Shields said she made these issues known in multiple meetings with Taher and nothing changed. Quest, she said, was chosen based on the taste of the food, their staffing plans, and letters of recommendation from other districts Quest works with.

Shields and two school employees, a maintenance worker and a foods class instructor, visited another school where Quest works to see what foods they’re working with, ensuring they’re working with fresh foods and foods made from scratch. Quest, she said, reached high marks.

“Quest’s management fee is likely going to be $40,000 but there’s a range of $30,000 to $50,000,” Shields said. “If they perform poorly, we pay less. If they perform great, we pay more, and I’m happy to do so.”

Anthony Ferrazzuolo, with Quest, explained that they measure it based on how many students are eating, how much they’re buying, and whether or not they like the food.

“Sometimes you would see like, sales increase year over year, but that could be because we’re asking for price increases,” Ferrazzuolo said. “Per cap removes that. It really shows that we’re increasing participation for each student as a whole.”

Per cap, Ferrazzuolo said, is the metric Quest measures itself by.

Shields said Quest also had the highest employee retention rates of the four contracts considered, which the district has had trouble with in the cafeteria.