Dear Editors,

Thank you for all you do to make our food delicious, fresh, and readily available to our community! Each morning, your staff arrives in the early hours to prepare freshly baked artisanal breads, construct hearty sandwiches, assemble salad bars, and ensure that our community is provided with a wide variety of fresh and nutritious foods.

        With more than 1,000 mouths to feed each day, you manage to personally deliver snacks and lunches to hundreds of Lower School students, provide free coffee to faculty and staff, and even craft meals for after school events and meetings. Each evening, long after we have gone home, your staff works tirelessly to ensure that each plate, tray, and utensil is cleaned and ready for the next day’s meals.

    It’s a wonder that these food services can be sustained for $5.75 per entree. (It would be an interesting experiment to attempt to provide a similar homemade meal on a budget of only $5.75!) It’s no surprise that fresh, high quality foods cost more than processed, shelf-stable ingredients, and it’s important to consider the food available in other local neighborhood schools, which have recurring menus of hotdogs, baked beans, canned peaches, boxed milk, and the like.

Thank you, people of Quest, for the many other service that you provide for this community. Thank you for making every single food item allergy-sensitive, and also for providing vegetarian and gluten-free food options. Thank you for the friendliness, availability, and flexibility of your staff, who are a vital part of our community (many of whom have gladly served larger helpings, when asked), and thank you for serving the countless advisories and classes that have taken advantage of your kitchenware, ovens, and the culinary experience of your chefs.

        Some jobs, even when expertly accomplished, can be thankless; it is important that our community acknowledges and appreciates the value of your services.  

-Alec Synakowski, Music Teacher