BRUNSON SCHOOL STUDENTS FIRST IN CITY TO DINE IN CAFÉ OF DISTINCTION

Chartwell-Thompson Hospitality, the food service company that provides meals for Chicago Public Schools students, opened the first Café of Distinction at Milton Brunson Math & Science Specialty School, 932 North Central Avenue, in Austin. The upgrade came with an award to the school’s food service staff for ensuring that its school Dining Center meets or exceeds rigorous standards for sanitation, safety, customer service, and merchandising. Because of its exceptional record, Brunson will serve as a training center for school dining staffs across the city. Chartwells plans to certify 12 additional Cafes of Distinction during the 2012-2013 school year. Brunson operates a full kitchen and cafeteria-style dining room with seven employees preparing and serving meals to students.

 They begin their work day at 5:45 each morning, preparing Breakfast in the Classroom beginning at 7:45 AM, serving 500 students. The dining room has six seatings for lunch beginning at 10:00 AM. The staff freshly prepares a total of 580 lunches throughout the six seatings. Students have a choice of hot entrée or sandwich with salad, dessert, and regular or chocolate milk. The popular new addition to the Brunson Café of Distinction is a self-service Salad Bar where children can select their own ingredients. Kids are excited about building their own salads. They say they like Celery, Cucumbers, and raw baby Carrot Sticks the best. 

They say they also find the “hard little pieces of bread” (croutons) interesting. The favorite dressing of the salad connoisseurs is Ranch. They are almost unanimous in turning thumbs-down on Tomatoes. Brunson students say their favorite lunch entrée by far is Nachos, followed closely by Pizza. Each week’s menu is posted for students to check out. Early reports suggest that under the new Café system food waste by students is reduced. Brenda Grisby is Manager of the Brunson Café of Distinction, supervising a staff of six: Michelle Williams is the Cook; Willie Smith is the Porter; and Alicia Reyes, Shurine Creamer, Lillian Coleman, and Patricia Nesbitt are Lunch Room Attendants. Dr. Carol Wilson is Principal of Milton Brunson Specialty School.