Domino’s has been providing Pali students with free pizza once a day at Pali South, courtesy of Cartwell’s Catering. This addition was made in the absence of school – made hot lunches, as the Sears building does not have a working kitchen available.
Pali Director of Operations Rafael Negroe wants students to have the access to proper meals while at this temporary campus.
“We don’t have a production kitchen and we needed to provide hot meals as an option to [students], so we went with the best other option, which is food provided by another company,” Negroe said.
Negroe explained that Domino’s was chosen as it was seen as the most similar replacement for the daily pizza served out of the cafeteria at the Temescal campus, which was many students’ preferred food option.
“Of the 1,200 to 1,500 meals that we serve a day, about 500 are pizzas,” Negroe said. ”[Most] everybody prefers pizza over sandwiches, salad or even fruit.”
Moreover, the ingredients in the pizza, which are different from those in normal Domino’s pizza, comply with the National Lunch School Program governmental food standards widely used by high schools.
“The Department of Education and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provide specific guidelines for recipes and what ingredients to use when we make pizza. So the pizzas that we get from Domino’s are not the ones you get when you dial Domino’s or go on the app,” Negroe said. “They’re different recipes with whole wheat flour, different tomatoes, lower sodium and enriched cheese.”
Despite having new food options – like Domino’s pizza – Pali’s cafeteria budget and handling process has not changed.
“The government provides a reimbursable dollar amount for our meals, which is our budget,” Negroe said. “Currently, the new food that we’ve been providing hasn’t fluctuated that budget. Also, the amount of employees handling the food hasn’t changed.”
Many Pali students enjoy having Domino’s available on campus. Sophomore Charlie Barbouth, who eats the pizza a couple of times a week, said she enjoys Domino’s Pizza more than the pizza served at the main Pali High campus.
“I honestly think the pizza is even better than what we got at the original campus,” Barbouth said. “It’s warmer, fresher and less greasy.”
Junior Daniel Masjedi, who also eats the pizza often, agreed that it’s a delicious option for students. However, Masjedi would prefer to go back to eating the cafeteria food offered by the kitchen when returning to the main campus.
“Even though I like Domino’s, it’s way worse than the original cafeteria food,” Masjedi said. “Old cafeteria food, like the old chicken wings with the pepper on them, was way, way better.”
According to Negroe, despite the popularity of Domino’s pizza, the school is unlikely to continue to serve it at the original campus as administration makes preparations to move back in January.
“I think that Domino’s is a great product, but I also think that the food service team [in the cafeteria] can provide more flavors, more options and a fresher product – not one that has been produced elsewhere and transported to the facility,” Negroe concluded. “Why have pizza transported from someplace else when you can have fresh pizza made by our staff?”
