Last fall, Southern Lehigh High School students returning to school felt that the cafeteria lunches had decreased in quality. In particular, students pointed out that the cafeteria no longer served a Southern Lehigh favorite, the wraps. Within weeks of returning to school, senior Angelina Dougherty even started a petition on change.org in hopes of reviving the beloved cafeteria hit. 

“I remember, sophomore year, those wraps were the best thing to have ever happened to the school,” Dougherty said. “They were so good, there were so many customization options, there was something for everyone. Honestly, if they just served that, for the rest of the year and nothing else, [I feel] nobody would complain.”  

There were a couple factors that led to what is called the “Deli-Bar” being closed during the fall semester. The main reason, according to head cafeteria worker Mrs. Christina Grube, was the lack of staffing. 

“The main reason they [weren’t] being sold [in the fall] is because of the manpower in the cafeteria,” Mrs. Grube said. “We usually have twelve girls working and we only [had] ten. The wraps take at least four girls to do it, and we need somebody to cook.” 

For the wraps to be made daily, around 275 Tyson chicken patties are cut into slices, along with 60-70 tomatoes, and even more lettuce and onions. Putting this all together in between waves of students at lunch seems near impossible, considering the cafeteria stays open longer to simply get the wraps customized towards each student ordering, but the employees make do to please the student body. 

The second reason for the disappearance of the wraps was a supply chain issue. Because of the lack of drivers, the provider had to drop Southern Lehigh, leaving the district food service workers in a panic to find a new provider before the school year began. 

“There weren’t enough drivers from our normal food provider, so they dropped us on a whim,” Mrs. Grube said. “So we had to pick somewhere else, the stock was really limited.”

The wraps were set to come back at the beginning of February, after new staff members in the cafeteria were hired. And when they did, students rushed to get in line. The original options were there, and they included even more. 

“I have never had a wrap until this year, but they’re definitely my new favorite thing to get,” senior Robert Blanchard said.

New additions to the menu have also been added. The cafeteria workers have added things such as bagels, yogurt, funnel cakes, churros to the menu, and will continue to have the salad bar open.