Fueling Owls for Success

As we head towards the holiday season, and many are thinking about the Thanksgiving feasts they will enjoy with family, food is certainly on the brain. This fall at the parent coffees, Head of School Gretchen Warner shared three essential building blocks to a students’ success: food, water, and rest. Overlake’s Food Services team takes the first of those building blocks very seriously. 

But cooking for this diverse community of Owls is quite the undertaking. Thankfully, Travis Boyce, Director of Food Services and his team are up to the challenge. Boyce brings experience as a personal chef, which required him to make all manner of cuisines at a moment’s notice but also draws on his time as Regional Executive Chef for Google PNW. 

“The Google gig taught me a myriad of different cuisines. We changed the menu daily and worked with over 40 different concepts and cuisines. And that was only 1 of the 9 cafes I oversaw and programmed! The Google demographic is very similar to the Overlake demographic, so I was prepared for variety when I got here,” Boyce shares. 

When planning out Overlake’s menu, Boyce strives to balance a variety of cuisines, allergens, and foods that kids will eat. Prioritizing nutrition is a key value Boyce and his team bring to their work. An impressive 75% of all food served in the Campus Center is made from scratch, making the meals even more nutritious. “In the long run, it’s just the right thing to do. Whole fruits, whole meats, and whole vegetables are what kids need,” Boyce says.

However, as he points out, “that balance can be tricky. We all know that most kids are not too inclined to load up on vegetables, so often we have vegetables folded into the food, so to speak. There are always fresh fruits and healthy snacks available and most of our meals from the hotline contain a healthy vegetable every day,” Boyce says. “Mostly it’s about a balance of healthy, feasible, and fun.”

Drawing from his professional experience, but also his personal experience, Boyce is no stranger to coming up with nutritious foods that kids will enjoy, having a picky 6-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter at home. When thinking about the menu and coming up with new things, Boyce shares, “I constantly think of my daughter and her friends when I am wondering 'will the kids buy into this?’”

The snack offerings are an ever-changing landscape as the team looks at trends among young people, variety, and comfort for those wanting familiar favorites. “We even have a student entrepreneur who has started an importing business with his father, and we sell his Indian crackers here.”

As the kitchen crew continues to work hard to fuel our students, families can rest easy knowing that their students are in good hands when they eat at Overlake. The health and well-being of our students is a top priority and food is just one of the ways we can help serve the community.