KNOW YOUR STUDENT
For design to work, it has to start from who students actually are. “Today’s student is a grazer,” says Reitano. “Tey’re not breakfast, lunch, dinner kids anymore.” Te new cafeteria at Noblesville High School in Indiana offers a telling example: while working on the project, Reitano found that traffic peaks at 10–11am and again at 1–2pm, as students roll through from an adjacent study area throughout the day. Tis compounds a common issue in US K-12:
lack of proximity to food. “Te national average lunch break in the United States is 23 minutes,” says Reitano. “Students go there, throw some food down and then go back to class.” Te design response to both challenges is distributed dining: “We’re putting food where the students are, spreading it across the building, in smaller
environments and available throughout the day,” he says. Ten there are the expectations kids form outside
school: “Kids today care about choice at a much earlier age,” says Wendy Surak, SVP of operations at Sodexo At School. “According to research by Datassential, 68% of Gen Alpha parents take their kids out to eat at least once a week and 52% say they let their kids pick their own meals.”
Asking students directly is, Edwards argues, the
most reliable approach: “Taste panels with pupils are invaluable – they’re honest, and they tell you what adults often miss. Sadly, many caterers believe children do not like salads and will not venture beyond what they know, but that’s not true. Children are far more adventurous than they’re often given credit for.” Reitano puts it in starker terms: “Gen Z and Gen Alpha look for a different experience. We call it the
Above: Communal dining area at Brownsburg High School, Indiana Left: Rendering of facilities at Noblesville High School, Indiana
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