Manteca High School’s cafeteria has a new look.

The square-footage is still the same, and no major additions were made. But where there were several small refrigeration units in the kitchen, there is now a walk-in refrigerator and freezer.

“It basically opened up the kitchen. Nothing was expanded. We remodeled just to update it,” Joyce Rubalcaba of the Manteca Unified School District Nutrition Services program said of the remodeling project’s extent.

An added bonus to this streamlined refrigeration unit is the energy efficiency that came as a result of this change.

“We’re hoping to save some energy also,” Rubalcaba said.

The remodeling, which was largely done during the summer break from April 1 to the first day of school on Aug. 9, also addressed an accessibility issue in the dining area.

“We have to become ADA (American With Disabilities Act) compliant by lowering one section of the service counter so that it’s wheelchair accessible,” explained Rubalcaba.

The work actually caused a little bit of inconvenience for the students during the few days that the work was being done while school was open. Like all the other main high school campuses in the district – East Union, Sierra High, Weston Ranch and Lathrop High – Manteca High has its own kitchen where the lunch meals are prepared. During the brief period when the kitchen was out of commission, Buffaloes’ lunches were cooked at Brock Elliott Elementary School, one of five schools in the district with a kitchen facility, and then transported to the East Yosemite Avenue campus.

The last time Manteca High School’s cafeteria had a facelift was so long ago that school officials could not easily remember when it took place.