District turns to school buses to help speed up lunch lines

When school officials at Longview Independent School District in Longview, Texas, announced that the lunch period for high-schoolers would be reduced to a single hour next school year, the nutrition team knew it would have to come up with a way to get kids through the line faster. 

“One of our assistant superintendents was talking about how at a previous district that he had been at, they had a food truck,” says Child Nutrition Director Phyllis Dozier. “And so, we began looking at a food truck, and then he suggested that maybe we do a bus, and that just kind of took off from there.”

With the school board’s support, the nutrition team is spending the summer transforming two unused school buses into food trucks that will give students additional options during breakfast and lunch. 

Meals on wheels 

The district is working with an outside company to help design the buses, each of which will be outfitted with a heated cabinet, combi oven, griddles, an under-counter refrigerator and freezers, a sandwich and salad prep table with a refrigerated base, an ice maker and a three-compartment sink. 

“All of those things that you have to have in a kitchen, we will have in the buses,” says Dozier.

The buses will be stationed in different areas around campus for students to come outside and grab food during meals. Each bus will be managed by six employees—four will prepare the meals and two will be in charge of serving them. 

Students will be able to enjoy burgers and hotdogs, street tacos and more, Dozier says.

The team plans to incorporate fresh fruits and veggies from its 5-acre campus garden into the menu as well, and will begin marketing the new menu items to parents and students once the buses begin meal service. 

Additional help with summer feeding 

Along with easing congestion and long lines at the high school, the buses will also aid the nutrition team in reaching more kids during summer feeding. 

Throughout the summer, the buses will be sent to neighborhoods within the district to feed students closer to home. 

Work is underway to transform the buses over the next several weeks. Dozier and the team hope to have them both up and running by the time students return in the fall and will 

“We're hoping for the first day of school, which would be August the ninth,” says Dozier. “We’re not sure that that we can make that happen, but that's our goal.”