The cafeteria is the result. The operation is the work.

Great food is what employees see. Rigorous systems are what make it happen, every day, for years. Here's how we think about running your program.

Professional chefs working in kitchen
Kitchen team in action

The Team You'll Get

We staff your cafeteria with six people, full-time, all W-2 employees of AFS Solutions. You don't hire them, manage them, or payroll them — we do. The Food Service Manager is your single point of contact for everything day-to-day.

Food Service Manager

Owns the P&L. Manages vendors, food ordering, menu planning, staff scheduling, health department compliance, and weekly reporting. ServSafe Manager certified, 3–5 years supervisory experience minimum.

Lead Cook / Sous Chef

Executes the menu daily. Runs the hot line, handles batch cooking, owns food safety logs, and trains the line cooks. 3+ years of line experience; typically promoted from within.

Line / Prep Cook (x2)

Morning prep, breakfast service, lunch production, basic sanitation. One focuses on breakfast and grill; one on cold prep and lunch assembly. Trained on-site to our standards.

Cashier / Server

Mans the serving line and POS, assists with portioning, handles grab-and-go restocks. The face of the cafeteria — customer service orientation is non-negotiable.

Dishwasher / Utility

Dish pit, pot washing, deep cleaning, trash and recycling, receiving support. Often the hardest role to keep staffed — which is exactly why we pay above the national median for it.

Your Single Point of Contact

If you have a question, a complaint, or a compliment, one phone call reaches the person who can act on it — your dedicated Food Service Manager.

Our Hiring Standards

Foodservice has 80% annual turnover industry-wide. We fight that by hiring carefully and treating the cafeteria as a career, not a stepping stone.

  • ServSafe Manager certification required for the Food Service Manager
  • Minimum 3 years of relevant experience for leadership roles
  • Background checks and drug screening for every hire
  • On-site onboarding before day one on the floor
  • Ongoing training — food safety, customer service, allergen management, conflict de-escalation
  • Promotion from within — our Lead Cooks were often Prep Cooks who trained up
  • Above-median wages, especially for the hardest-to-fill roles

Food Safety & Compliance

The boring part of running a cafeteria is 90% of running a cafeteria. We don't cut corners on the stuff that matters most.

Fresh vegetables being prepared

What We Handle

  • Health department permitting and inspection coordination
  • Daily temperature logs at every holding and storage station
  • HACCP protocols for every hot, cold, and ambient food point
  • Weekly waste audits to identify over-production and food safety issues
  • Quarterly third-party food safety audits
  • Full allergen documentation and cross-contact prevention protocols
  • Mandatory staff training on allergen awareness, beyond ServSafe

What You Get

  • Monthly written reports summarizing compliance, participation, financials, and any issues
  • Real-time notification if a health or safety issue arises
  • Access to all temperature logs, waste audits, and training records on request
  • Full support if your company undergoes any workplace inspection that includes the cafeteria

Reporting & Transparency

You should always know two things: what your program is costing and how your people are using it. We give you both — monthly, without you having to ask.

Monthly Operational Report

Participation by meal period, top-selling items, waste metrics, food cost as a percentage of retail, staffing levels, any compliance flags. Delivered by the 10th of the following month.

Quarterly Business Review

A two-hour working meeting with your designated leader and ours. We review the quarter, surface feedback, show menu changes, and align on anything you want to adjust.

Real-Time POS Dashboard

Read-only access to our POS reporting so you can see daily transaction counts, revenue, and item-level sales without waiting for a monthly report.

Our Culture

A cafeteria is as good as the people running it. If our Dishwasher has a bad day, your lunch line slows down. If our Cashier likes her job, your employees feel welcomed. Culture is operations.

We pay competitively. We promote from within. We treat the cafeteria as a real career path with real progression — Prep Cook to Line Cook to Lead Cook to Manager. Our people stay longer than the industry average, and our clients get more stable food as a result.

Want to see our approach in action?

We'll walk you through exactly how we'd run your program.

Request a Proposal