by Sabrina Redlingshafer

It’s 4 a.m. Maxwell Littlejohn, Bistro Kid’s head chef at STA, pulls up to the Academy. He shuffles out of his car, treks through the parking lot and pulls open the doors of M&A Building. The building is empty. And dark. He’s the only person that shows up this early. He strides past the vacant front office, past the rusty water fountain, steps down the staircase and walks into the Commons. He strolls past the vending machines and turns the doorknob into the cafeteria kitchen. His comfort zone. The place where his stories are made and creations are formed.

“I get [to STA] at 4 a.m. and I’ll probably leave around 3 [p.m.],” Littlejohn said. “I start cooking and try to make everything as fresh as possible, which means I’m making new stuff every day. I don’t like to have holdovers or throw food away.”

It’s 6 a.m. now. Bistro Kid’s assistant chef, Matthew Stansfield, arrives to prepare food alongside Littlejohn.

“I’ve known Max for a while,” Stansfield said.

The two have previously worked and attended school together at Johnson County Community College’s chef apprenticeship program.

As the typical STA girl rolls out of bed and grabs a stale bagel, the two chefs get to work preparing food scheduled to be served in five hours. The chefs chop lettuce, cut bread, make wraps, fill drink containers and construct the day’s lunch. All organic. All local. All fresh. All from scratch.

“The reason why I decided [to work for] Bistro Kids is because they were talking about sustainability and using local foods they grown in gardens,” Littlejohn said. “Once I started working for them, it was really fun to work from scratch. It is cool to learn new ways to cook food that is healthy, but still tastes good.”

The chef’s was uncertain of what to anticipate at STA prior to his first day on the job.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Littlejohn said. “They told me that Bistro Kids were to expect 50 percent participation [from students and staff], so that was like 350 people. Right now I’m only doing about 110 customers daily.”

According to Littlejohn, less than half of STA’s population buys Bistro Kids on a daily basis.

“I didn’t get as many people as I thought I would,” he says dissatisfied.

Since the first day, expectations of the Bistro Kid’s chefs have plateaued, leaving them feeling “a little bit in the dark.” Because of these reasons, the chefs are open to suggestions and feedback.

“I’m going to put a suggestion box out here pretty soon,” Littlejohn said. “I would think I’d get more people to eat here. Feel free to give me any suggestions so it can be better or I can change it up.”

It’s 12 p.m. now. Students choose their foods, scan their fingerprints, scoop their salad into boxes, and sit to indulge their organic lunch. The bell for second activity rings, all students rush to their next period, and the Bistro Kids chefs are left with the clean up. Littlejohn and Stansfield finish their tasks for the day and walk out of the kitchen with a locked door behind, ready to do it all again tomorrow.