By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The public had a chance to tour the new Support Services building utilized by the Great Bend school district Wednesday on east 10th Street. The facility houses the Central Kitchen and Maintenance, Grounds and Transportation departments.
USD 428 purchased the building at 625 East 10th Street in December 2021 for $1.55 million, and the acquisition has allowed workers like Food Service and Central Kitchen Director Kristy Alvord to expand with more space.
"If anyone has been to the old kitchen, we were very elbow to elbow," said Alvord. "Now we have room to work. We're not backing into each other. That's been the greatest thing for us."
The Central Kitchen cooks an average of 715 breakfasts and 2,100 lunches each weekday. Between part-time and fulltime, Alvord has 41 staff members with food services. Their time spent cooking was greatly reduced with the addition of new cooking equipment.
"We did get two new Combi Ovens which is a combination of steam-dry heat cooking which has cut out cook times in half," said Alvord. "It also keeps the moisture in the food. We're able to cook the food faster and it tastes better with the steam cook."
The school district spent $4.82 million to completely renovate the building, which included a new HVAC system.
