NYC Commits $150M to Redesign All Middle and High School Cafeterias

Public school cafeterias are about to get a major overhaul thanks to a recently approved $150 million capital expenditure by the City Council for the current fiscal year.

“It is critical that we continue to improve these spaces so more students take advantage of the resource in front of them,” said Rachel Sabella, director of No Kid Hungry NY an affiliate of the Community Food Advocates group that is pushing the cafeteria overhaul.

The money earmarked for the what is called the Cafeteria Enhancement Experience initiative will expand Community Food Advocates’ redesign project to all middle and high school cafeterias in the City.

CFA is well aware that making cafeterias more modern and pleasing can help the overall learning experience for students. Back in the pre-pandemic era in 2017, it organized Lunch 4 Learning to campaign for free lunch for everyone, regardless of income. Now, the total $275-million project hopes to transform the entire cafeteria experience for students.

“Outdated cafeterias with inefficient lunch lines, lack of seating and lack of variety deter students from eating school meals,” said Faith Catherine Jones, a junior at Brooklyn Tech High School and a Youth Food Advocate for CFA since 2021. “Students are more likely to have nutrient inadequacies...and in the future discourage healthier food selection in their daily lives.”

Citing the CDC in her Youth Food Advocates testimony back in May, Jones said students who participate in lunchroom activity generally have better test scores and attendance rates than those who skip the communal eating experience to grab something to eat outside the school. Unappealing cafeteria settings are one of the factors cited that contribute to school food stigma among students her age.

“Schools that are struggling with the previous poor experiences that I discussed of inadequate cafeterias have led to problems concerning students’ well being and academic performance in school,” she said.

Vinny Corletta was an English teacher at P.S. 318 in the Bronx when that school’s cafeteria was one of the first to be renovated under the Cafeteria Enhancement Experience.

There, he said, he noticed the redesign had an immediate impact and made students more more excited to go to the school cafeteria during lunch. Then, he moved to a new school in Brooklyn where the cafeteria was older and unrenovated.

“[The new cafeteria] was much more visually pleasing, and it switched up the dynamic of where kids can sit,” Corletta said. “The initiative is really cool because it helps students, and anything that helps students helps me as an educator.”

When he moved to a new school in Brooklyn where the cafeteria was older and unrenovated and students were forced to sit by class and enthusiasm for the whole cafeteria dining experience was lower.

“If you look at reviews for restaurants, they look at ambiance too. Just because they’re students doesn’t mean they don’t deserve that,” he said. “It’s all important. Visuals and ambiance are important things.”

Corletta notes that the isolation kids experienced in the COVID era the and its over reliance on electronic learning, definitely created problems with personal socialization once everyone returned to the classroom. And he says there will always probably be some criticism of cafeteria food fare.

“But of course, if you put me in a place that looks really nice and I’m sitting with my friends, I’ll have that French bread pizza,” he said.

CFA, the organization behind the redesign plan, was coming off the heels of their successful free-lunch-for-all campaign when they decided to ask school officials what other elements of the school food experience could be improved.

“Food appeal and cafeteria environment were things that were rising to the top,” said Abbie Watts, CFA’s director of school food advocacy. “The more students that are participating, the better the program becomes, and it means more students are eating, which is great.”

School meals are often the healthiest meals children eat—across all income levels, according to the CFA. Watts said that NYC in particular has some of the strictest institutional food standards in regards to nutrition.

The redesign plan has garnered a 35 percent increase in lunch participation among high school students, an age group that often abstains due to overcrowding, distaste, time or social behavior. More students eating in school cafeterias allows for more students eating in general, resulting in better mental and physical health.

“I think, especially post-COVID, this is a really essential way to get students in a healthy social environment where they can spend that time nicely,” she said. “It’s so critical that that space is one where students do feel like they can relax and enjoy their meal. They’re not crunched into a table on a bench. They have more of a comfortable experience in the cafeteria.”

Sabella, at No Kid Hungry NY, a CFA partner organization, said school that in New York, a staggering four in five households are finding it harder to afford groceries this past twelve months. Rising food prices are outpacing family incomes across the state, she said, and school cafeterias can offer students those crucial two meals a day.

“It is critical that we continue to improve these spaces so more students take advantage of the resource in front of them,” Sabella said.

After two years of the pandemic, Mayor Eric Adams said in the press release launching the CEE initiative, this investment is important to ensure every child feels seen and heard.

“The classroom isn’t the only place in a school building where a child learns,” he said. “All children, no matter their background or ability, can learn inside and outside the classroom, and grow into well-rounded and emotionally secure adults.”

The project promises to be “cost-effective and quick” for all schools, estimating a $600,000 allotment for each cafeteria’s renovation, to be completed in about three days. This NYC investment also provides three-to-five times more bananas, apples, broccoli and spinach — and reaches 30 times more lettuce — served on each student’s plate.

All applicable middle and high schools will see a new cafeteria in the next five years, and the recent capital will allow the City to explore CEE expansion to elementary schools.

“These cafeterias will hold the future generations of doctors, politicians and advocates,” Jones said. “I hope to see a day in the near future where my peers, in the largest [school] district in the country, are all able to receive a cafeteria fit for their needs.”