Lex Eat Together Food Policy
Since our overriding priority is to ensure that we have sufficient amounts of food available for our guests, the LET management team would like to clarify our Food Consumption policy. While from time to time, there may be sufficient food for volunteers to eat as well, we thought it would be worthwhile to outline our priorities so that everyone can have a clear understanding of when there may be ample food and when there may not be.
We’ve had some questions about offering children a choice if the night’s meal does not appeal to them. Nothing is more heartbreaking than a child who does not have enough food, and nothing is more discouraging to a family joining us than their child not eating. We decided that it is our place to feed a nutritious dinner to all and not to judge or attempt to educate a picky eater. We will continue to offer “kid-friendly” choices and look to simplify this process for our kitchen and servers.
Thank you for observing this policy to ensure first and foremost that our guests have, as they should, the first priority on our meals and secondly that any food offered to volunteers is done on a fair and evenhanded basis, consistent with the underlying goals of Lex Eat Together.
- The first priority is to ensure that every guest has sufficient food to eat at our meal, including any who are late arriving. For some meals, this may allow offering multiple helpings. We want, first and foremost, for every guest to go away satisfied that she or he had enough to eat.
- After 5:45pm, we may be able to offer meals to volunteers, at the discretion of that evening’s Head Chef. There may be circumstances in which there is leftover food which can’t be offered to volunteers-for instance, when we are expecting guests who have not yet arrived or if the leftovers are earmarked for a later meal. Generally, some food will often remain for volunteer consumption.
- Volunteers sitting at tables and eating with our guests have the first priority on any food above and beyond what we require for guests or later use. This is important to the community aspects of our program. Other volunteers (e.g. servers, cleanup volunteers) eating on premise would have the next priority. Serving staff may eat when their serving duties are complete and they have been cleared by the night’s Head Server.
- No food other than breads and desserts may be taken home by either guests or volunteers. This is essential for food safety reasons.
- Any food left over at the end of the night must be either frozen for future use or disposed of if it cannot be frozen. Disposal options include a slop bucket for pigs and a compost container, thereby minimizing the amount of food disposed of as garbage.
We’ve had some questions about offering children a choice if the night’s meal does not appeal to them. Nothing is more heartbreaking than a child who does not have enough food, and nothing is more discouraging to a family joining us than their child not eating. We decided that it is our place to feed a nutritious dinner to all and not to judge or attempt to educate a picky eater. We will continue to offer “kid-friendly” choices and look to simplify this process for our kitchen and servers.
Thank you for observing this policy to ensure first and foremost that our guests have, as they should, the first priority on our meals and secondly that any food offered to volunteers is done on a fair and evenhanded basis, consistent with the underlying goals of Lex Eat Together.
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