The Potomac School kitchen staff feeds about 1180 people every day. The amount of food and preparation required for every meal is nothing short of astounding. Sydney Tregoning ‘28 interviewed the Director of Dining Services for Potomac, Mr. Wes Rosati, to get an inside peek at what goes on behind the scenes. Rosati has been at Potomac since August of 2021 and is in charge of managing the kitchen. 

Here is a typical working day in the Potomac kitchen:  

• Preparations: Part One

Preparations start the day before, cutting all of the vegetables and baking the bread. For example, on the days Caesar salads are served, about four boxes of Romaine lettuce are chopped. 

• Cooking

A team of six chefs, including the Executive Chef, Mr. Corey Alexander, arrives at school around 6:00 am to start cooking. But first, they must transport food from the first-floor storage area to the fourth-floor kitchen (no easy feat). On pasta and meat sauce days, they marinate the sauces, brown the meat, and cook pasta (about 120 pounds of it!).

• Transportation

Once the food is made and portioned into serving pans (usually by 10:00 am), about 25% is transported to the Flag Circle Building for Lower and Middle School lunch. Since there is no kitchen in Flag Circle, all of the food is already portioned into warming trays and ready to serve. 

• Upper and Intermediate Schools Lunch

The Intermediate School and Upper School both eat in the Upper School cafeteria and consume about 75% of the food the staff makes each day. Staff consistently switch out the dishes as they begin to run low. They also monitor the third line to ensure that the food doesn’t run out.  

• Clean-up

A team of three dish staff workers organize and clean all of the plates, cups, pots, pans, silverware, and more that are used throughout the day. They usually stay cleaning until about 4:30 in the afternoon. 

• Preparations: Part Two

The cycle repeats as cooks cut vegetables and prepare desserts for the next day’s meal. 

Extensive planning goes into the curation of the Potomac menu; they try to decide on meals three weeks in advance and put the information on the app. The cafeteria company, Meriwether-Godsey, has an extensive list of menus and meals for various settings that provide a recipe database. In addition, chefs can submit specialty dishes and recipes, given the needs of the community. Overall, they try to avoid repetition throughout the week, supplying us with a balance of healthy foods, as well as our favorite meals (some days with desserts as well). 

The Potomac menu is also decided based on allergen needs and general trends observed closely by the staff. For example, Rosati remarked that the difference in nutritional desires from the different parts of the school is taken into account. He said that the Lower Schoolers are more “carb-driven,” eating more pasta and bread products. In contrast, the Upper and Intermediate Schools eat more proteins, something that needs to be taken into account when preparing menus and individual dishes. He said that the Middle School is a wild card, sometimes eating more proteins and sometimes eating more carbs. The time of year changes food desires, as well. Rosati said that before winter break, on chicken tender days, students had about 450-480 pounds of chicken tenders. However, after winter break, the number went up to 530 pounds. They keep detailed records of this data to predict it in the future, but sometimes the community is just collectively hungry.  

Ordering food from the suppliers also varies from product to product. Many of the food items come from a large company that delivers three times a week. They deliver proteins, pastas, desserts, and other staples. A local bakery provides the bread products, and another supplies the fruits, vegetables, and dairy goods. Other distributors provide more specialty items and seasonal foods. Depending on the enterprise, the ordering time varies. Sometimes, food only needs to be ordered a day in advance; however, other times, ordering requires more foresight. 

Some quick daily numbers:

• 15 gallons of soup 
• 400 pounds of chicken 
• 1450 hamburgers
• 1500 cookies
• 120 pounds of rice 
• 160 bagels 

Some favorite meals include:

• Chicken tenders
• Butter chicken
• Pasta dishes
• BBQ chicken
• General Tso’s chicken
  

Overall, the cafeteria staff is incredible. We are so grateful as a school for their work in serving us quality food every day and supporting the Potomac community in many ways. The work done in the cafeteria allows the rest of the school to function properly. So, cafeteria staff, thank you for all of the hard work you put in every day to feed our Potomac community!