Behind big bites: Lynbrook’s kitchen staf serve love

As students filter into campus to start their mornings, figures in the kitchen move under bright lights, curating brunch displays and cleaning counters. Supplying Lynbrook’s students with fuel and warmth from food, Lynbrook’s kitchen staff work to keep our campus lively.

Food Service Manager: Lit by the glow of his computer, Tom Fernandez scours over data, arms brushing paperwork. He acts as a bridge between the district and kitchen staff, and oversees fresh produce delivery, data from food sales and more.

Fernandez’s day starts before the sun rises at 6:30 a.m., when he sets up Point of Sale systems, which are used to track orders and collect student data. While staff members filter in, he focuses on everyday paperwork, like meal count reports.

“I have a great crew to work with,” Fernandez said. “I am just here to answer questions and help them out in any way

He has been a chef for 40 years, starting with washing dishes at his brother's bar, his first indtroduction to food service. From there, he went to the Culinary Academy in San Francisco. After cooking at a variety of restaurants and hotels, he was assigned to Lynbrook.

“The most rewarding part of working here is nourishing the students,” Fernandez said. “The biggest challenge is that we do not know how many students are coming, so we have to guess the amount of food to

Baker and Cook: Every day Santa Gurrola arrives at work, dusting metal counters with flour and kneading dough. Gurrola originally got into the food service around 2011.

“At the beginning, it was because I needed to work, but when I started working, I really enjoyed it,” Gurrola said. “I love serving and being around the kids.”

She came to Lynbrook four years after working in the Santa Clara District, moving through the districts.

“There’s not a day where I get up and say, ‘I gotta go to work,’” Gurrola said. “There’s nothing I dislike about the job; we have a great manager and team.”

She handles every lunch item, preparing fresh lunch items like salads and pizza. Despite FUHSD guidelines for menu items, the staff members find new ways to experiment, like adding garlic to breadsticks and re-opening salad bars.

“We prepare these dishes with so much love, so it’s disappointing when the kids don’t want to try them,” Gurrola said. “Just keep coming to the cafeteria.”

Food Service Assistants: Deborah

Yeung, Cindy Brown, Helene Quinonez, Roana Leung and April Shen play a crucial role in daily operations. They balance behindthe-scenes tasks like filling the dispensers with kitchen tasks.

Inspired by her love of cooking food for her children and by her father and brother, who both were Hong Kong military chefs, Yeung applied for the Food Service Assistant role at Lynbrook.

“I come to work for the students, they’re like my kids. We’re trying hard to feed them good, healthy food,” Yeung said. Before working at Lynbrook, Quinonez worked as a caregiver, cooking in hospital settings and for events at Levi’s Stadium. Leung now works part-time after her official retirement in 2019, and volunteers in big kitchens for events like Chinese New Year celebration meals.

“It’s cool to see more students coming to the cafeteria because of our expanded menus — we now have Indian, Chinese, Mexican and Italian cuisines,” Leung said. “I love seeing students grow over the years in high school."

Student Workers: Juniors Lily Fang, Casey Fung, Cherie Zhou, and freshman Deanna Marie Quinonez and Caitlin Zhou dedicate their time before school, brunch and lunch to help food service run smoothly. They can often be seen crafting parfaits, manning registers and distributing food across hot plates.

“This was my first food industry-based job,” Fang said. “It's been nice because all the staff are really friendly and you're not alone.”

With flexible schedules, most choose when they want to show up, a common time being 7 a.m. before school starts.

Working for $17.95 per hour, most students chose the job because of its low transportation time, as they can just work before and during school. Some find the lunch shift refreshing after a mentally rigorous day.

“It's gratifying,” Fung said. “When I go there, it's usually really manual, repetitive tasks, so I can put on music and relax.”

Zhou originally joined the kitchen staff to see if she wanted to pursue the culinary industry. With more work experience, she hopes to better understand if food services is something she wants to pursue in the future.

“I just really like exploring different foods and love cooking for others,” Zhou said. “But I also know how hard the job is for lunch ladies, so be nice to them.”