LHS Students Team with Food Services for Taste Test Event

Lynden students may soon have new menu items showing up in school cafeterias, and the flavors come thanks to input provided by the students. 

In a cooperative effort between the Lynden Food Services team and the Lynden High School Future Business Leaders of America students, the FBLA students ran a taste test on Dec. 19, 2024, to help the food services team better understand taste preferences. 

The FBLA students worked to set up the cafeteria stage with samples and then created QR codes so that students participating in the event could easily share opinions on the samples, which included a Greek salad, breakfast burrito, ramen chicken bowl, barbecue chicken pizza, egg roll and chicken tender with a spicy honey dipping sauce. 

“Most of the products are items we can eventually add to our menus at the high school and middle school,” says Narlene VanBeek, director of Lynden Food Services. “It was a great experience, and we look forward to doing it again in the spring.” 

Jody Bogues, FBLA advisor, says the event gave the FBLA students a chance to show off their abilities while working on interpersonal and speaking skills. The students will now take the results of the survey and create a market research report for VanBeek. 

“It was a great opportunity to do something festive and give students an opportunity to speak with Narlene and ask questions about the food service process,” Bogues says, “and how items are selected, ordered and offered on the menu.”

The FBLA students involved in the projects were Declan Hurley, Kase Namminga, Cooper Oliver, Conrad Timmer, Samantha Parks, Caleb Rus and Xavier Lopez.