Peggy Revell
After 13 years of serving up meals at Fort Frances High School, Kathy Cuthbertson of Kathy’s Katering no longer will be running the school’s cafeteria.
In fact, no one will be.
“It wasn’t worth it anymore,” Cuthbertson said as to why—after more than a decade at the school—she chose not to submit a tender this year when it was put out to the public by the Rainy River District School Board.
No other business submitted a tender, either.
Cuthbertson said her decision stemmed from the fact the terms of the contract were beyond what was feasible for her to operate the cafeteria as a business.
It came even after revising her menu to comply with Ontario government nutrition regulations, she noted, which included having worked with the Northwestern Health Unit to calculate all the nutrition aspects of every food product she would be selling.
“I went through all of that and figured out how I would have to adapt my staff, cutting staff and all that,” she remarked. “I kind of had all that sorted out in my mind on how I could make it work.
“[But] when the contract came up, it was just—their [expectations] wouldn’t allow for success, I felt.”
“No one obviously did,” she stressed. “No one put a bid in on it.”
Cuthbertson cited issues with the contract which would have given the Fort High principal sole discretion as to when she would be open—such as having to be open all day but closed at lunch time on selected days so that other vendors, cooking classes, or fundraisers could sell lunch.
“It would be similar to me having to deal with snow days, with having to pay staff but having almost no income,” she reasoned.
As well, part of the tender stipulated that she would not be able to cater for anything outside of school functions while also having to supervise the kitchen if other people wanted to cater, Cuthbertson explained.
“Just a lot of things that were unrealistic,” she said, noting while she runs her catering business out of the school’s kitchen, she needs to be able to cater to other things because the profit margin on the sales of food to the students was “very low.”
“And those kinds of sales helped me keep my business going. They kept me viable,” she stressed.
With students returning to school in less than a week, Superintendent of Education Casey Slack confirmed no tenders came forward when the board put out a request for services for the cafeteria.
“In response to that, in talking with the principal, Al McManaman, we’re exploring offering cafeteria services through the hospitality program,” said Slack, referring to the course which runs out of the school already.
“Other schools have offered this type of a program, through the hospitality,” he noted. “So we’re exploring that.
“We have some very talented teachers that we’re looking at.”
Slack said McManaman is touching base with other schools in the province to look into how these programs work so they can be adapted to local needs.
The school will be in full compliance for any foods offered through this way when it comes to governmental stipulations, he stressed.
“I’m really disappointed because I loved it, I really did,” Cuthbertson said about no longer being at the school.
“I had a great staff and I’m still kind of in disbelief,” she admitted.
Up until she had to turn in her keys, she believed she might be asked to return.
“I was willing to go back, but unfortunately I guess I’m unemployed,” she remarked, adding she has no plans yet for the future.
And Cuthbertson isn’t the only person who will be affected by this when it comes to employment.
A couple of those working out of the cafeteria were bus drivers, she explained, who would do their bus runs before and after their shift in the cafeteria.
Alongside herself, there also were two full-time workers.
“A lot of kids did placement in the cafeteria. Special education kids, co-op kids,” Cuthbertson noted, referring to the training she was able to offer in the position.
This included one student who last year came on full-time working for her.
“Plus I employed five or six students every day at lunch, who worked half their lunch,” she added. “They were mostly bus students who couldn’t get jobs due to the logistics—how do you work after school if you live out at the country?
“So they worked at lunchtime for me, and got their lunch for free and wages.”