What's it like to get up every morning knowing that breakfast has to be prepared for about 200 young people at 7:30 a.m.?

"Challenging" was the word used by Ken Short, food services director at Kemper Military School and College. "Especially for the first year students because nobody is going to cook like Mother…"

Although Short has mostly supervised the operation during his first year as director, his assistant George Morrison and the kitchen staff prepare three meals a day with breakfast preparations beginning at 6 a.m. The entrée consists of four differently prepared eggs, a pastry mix and fresh doughnuts.

Preparations for lunch begin at about 9 a.m. and is served at 12:20 p.m. The dinner menu begins at 2:30 p.m. and is served to the cadets at 6:30 p.m. Those meals consist of two meat and two vegetable entrees, five salads, three deserts, ice cream and five selections of beverages.

Short explains that not all foods, such as the meats are prepared in advance of the time it is to be served. "We try to hold back as long as we can on production time in order for the food to be fresh." He says he's "picky" about making sure the students are served fresh foods.

The biggest percentage of food fed to the Kemper cadets and staff members are bought locally, Short says. "We want to use local demands as much as we possibly can in the selection of food."

Short says trips are made to the local warehouse produce stores almost daily for bread and milk items. Produce is purchased on the average of three times a week and frozen and canned goods are weekly purchases. He says meat items usually come form out-of-town because the products he is looking for are not available in Boonville.

Since he began serving the cadets in August 1978, he says he knows "pretty well" what they like. For example, if he serves entrees of chicken and Salisbury steak, he says he prepares about 100 more portions of chicken because the cadets like it better. "Sometimes I get surprised though-but not very often."

In order to help break the monotony of food served in the mess hall, Short says there are occasional "theme dinners" and attempts are made to make those special. Some typical "theme dinners" include Mexican night, steak night and a dinner served to the cadets at Tuesday's chicken, chitlins, pig ears, and chicken necks. Today, he termed the "soul dinner" successful because it gave the cadets an opportunity to try foods they were not accustomed to.

On holidays, he says a buffet-style is utilized, rather than the usual cafeteria style meals. On typical meal meals days, Short averaged it takes about 14 minutes for the cadets to file through the serving line.

Basic recipes that most people are acquainted with are used in preparing the food, Short says. When he began serving the cadets, he spent a lot of time with the kitchen personnel to assure the food was prepared and presented properly. That includes training on how to make the meal look attractive with the use of garnishments and knowing what size pan the food should go into.

Presenting the meal is a big thing that Short says he feels strongly about. "You can prepare it well, but if you just throw if out there, it loses its appeal."

Short learned a lot about food service while working as assistant food director at University of Missouri- Columbia and later, food supply for the student union and at Kirksville, he was in charge of feeding 2,000 dormitory students.

Serving Kemper students is different from serving those in college dormitories Short says. "It (Kemper) is better because everyone eats at the same time." In the college surroundings, the students heave about an hour and a half to get to the cafeteria for a meal. During that time additional foods are being prepared to replace the food that is drying out in pans on the serving line.

"I enjoy being able to feed everyone at the same time," Short says. "Everything can be fresh and the presentation of the food is better."

While working as district manager for American Food Management, Short got the idea to start his own food service business. "I had no desires on a large company," he says. Consequently, he formed his company, Opaa! Food Management Inc., and began looking for possible contract offers.

In telling the story on how he got to Boonville, Short said he was coming back from Kansas City on Interstate 70 early one afternoon and decided he had time to make another sales call. He said he thought of Kemper and decided to give it a try. Four months later he was awarded a contract which was recently renewed for the coming school year.

"I want to operate four or six schools of this (Kemper) size in order to give a personal touch. Here, I don't lose sight of who I'm feeding and I can know someone's name."

Reflecting on his stay at Kemper, Short says he has a "fantastic year in the relationships I have had with the cadets." He told about the first parents weekend in which he served between 500-600 people in the mess hall. At the time, the cadets presented Short and Morrison, with a plaque saying, "In appreciation from the 'hearts and stomachs' of the Kemper Cadet Corps."

Short, who smiles as he points out the plaque displayed in the mess hall, says, "You know you have achieved what you set out to do if you please the students."