Every day at lunch this year there will be around 25 customizable and free meal options. In an attempt to give more variety and higher quality food to students, the cafeteria has been transformed into what is known as the Rally Cafe.

“We want to get food away from that institutional cooking to being ‘you’re a guest in our house,’” said Brian Achilles, a food service manager for Aramark and director of child nutrition for Humble ISD.

There are four serving lines in the cafe, and each line includes meals that are made to order. 

Three of the lines are labeled Tortilla, Grill and Deli. A fourth line rotates main courses. Three days a week students can grab Domino’s pizza and the other two days it is a “build your own” line that will have different options each week. Sometimes kids can build their own potatoes or wings. Other times, it will be a pasta bar or an Asian food bar. 

For the second year in a row, the federal government is making breakfast and lunch free in public schools for all students regardless of their financial need. 

Achilles is excited for the unveiling because he believes kids deserve the best food possible. 

“I tell my team if you see something on a line that doesn’t look like what you would feed your kids then throw it in the trash, make something new,” Achilles said. “Treat these people like they’re your family.”