Northwest School District recently changed lunch companies to Southwest Food Service of Excellence (SFE). The previous lunch company that the district had was Taher, which was in place for the last two years.

The contract the board made with Taher ended this year, and this led the board to search for a new company. They wanted to explore other options besides Taher.

SFE submitted a 21 day menu plan to the State of Michigan, which they had to follow exactly until the 21 days were over. During this time, they were required to follow Michigan’s regulations on what they can and cannot serve students.

“I think that’s the frustration that the students and staff have been seeing. The options are different. Taher did their thing and now SFE is doing their thing, which is different,” said Asst. Principal Amanda Anspaugh.

Once the 21 day plan was up, SFE could start bringing back some of the meals the students liked before the year started.

“I don’t know how the changes will be made, if they’re going to be slow changes, or if they will do a complete overhaul,” said Asst. Principal Anspaugh.

The SFE lunch company plans to survey the staff and students to give a chance to tell them what they miss and do or do not like. Northwest will stick with SFE for the duration of the contract, but the length of the contract is unknown.

Initially the biggest complaints from the students were that the portion sizes are smaller, the food tasted blander, and that the salad bar was gone.

“I feel like there isn’t as many complaints now because this is the normal for us now. I feel people should take advantage of the lunches because it’s free,” said Asst. Principal Anspaugh.

There is some financial gain for Northwest because of the switch to SFE.

“I think it’s going to benefit the school district in the end.” said Asst. Principal Anspaugh.