What does it take to feed an NFL team, plus coaches and staff members, each day during the season.
Let Jose Ramirez explain.
"It takes an army," Ramirez, an executive chef, said with a smile.
Grant Harris, the Chargers Director of Performance Nutrition, added: "We're ordering massive amounts of food."
The cafeteria at The Bolt, the Chargers state-of-the-art facility in El Segundo, is one of the busiest places in the entire building.
Around lunch time, as many as 200 people flock to the room to eat, meaning Ramirez and his staff have to be on point.
The main focus, of course, is keeping players fed and healthy so that they can have optimal performance on the field for practice and game days.
That means only serving top-notch ingredients and dishes on a daily basis.
"We make sure they receive the best quality ingredients from fresh produce to the highest quality protein," Ramirez said. "This is breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, so we have to make sure this is the best quality for them."
Harris added: "In addition to being more organic and get the best quality products, we like to hit more of our local purveyors as well. We have them here, being grown right in the state, which is amazing. Having that right at our doorstep makes it a lot easier to get those high-quality products that we can deliver to the guys and provide on a daily basis."
Ramirez and his staff have to serve 70 players every day, plus another 120 members of both the football staff (coaches, scouts, etc.) and the business staff.
That means cooking and preparing food for roughly 300 people, which is no small feat.
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In terms of the players, some of the numbers are staggering.
Players go through about 6,000 pounds of food and snacks each week, including 600-plus pounds of protein each day.
The cafeteria staff starts out each day by making 50 eggs and then replenishes that supply during breakfast. And lunch and dinner see 40 whole chickens consumed on a daily basis.
Ramirez detailed the mindset when the clock approaches feeding time.
"The challenge is staying ahead and then keeping up with the players," Ramirez said. "Ten players will wipe us put entirely of the buffet.
"You see the players come in, we load up the buffet and it's gone in less than three minutes," Ramirez continued. "We make sure our team is constantly communicating. We have a runner in the front who will say, 'Hey chef, I'm 50 percent done. Can I get more working?'
"It's that communication between the team that makes us succeed," Ramirez added.
Ramirez creates the menu for each week before sitting down to review it for approval with Harris and his staff.
The group usually does a six-to-eight week menu cycle so there's an assortment of options every two months or so.
In terms of options, the Chargers cafeteria features a clean eating station with basic, healthy food such as protein and vegetables.
A cold bar features salad, deli meats and fruit while the global station offers more variety and internationally-flavored food.
A recent lunch menu, for example, featured chicken breast, pesto shrimp, parmesan pasta and broccoli at the clean eating bar.
The global station offered chicken escabeche, steak with spicy tahini sauce, roasted cabbage and dijon and herb potatoes.
Players and coaches, who can place orders through an app, could also order a meatball sub or make a Thai curry bowl.
"We try to provide as many options as possible to feed everyone," Harris said "We have a wide range of guys from a lot of different backgrounds."
Ramirez said the kitchen staff has two main objectives.
"Food safety is a big factor in our kitchen," Ramirez said.
He later added: "We have to make sure we're fast and efficient. We have to make sure they're fed and they're out."
Harris said players offer input as well to help make for a better overall operation.
"They're knowledgeable and they want to keep it on the healthy side, too, so we get great questions every day from them," Harris said. "So, we have to keep ourselves honest by keeping those products as high quality as possible."
"Linemen are eating 3,000 to 5,000-plus calories a day," Harris continued. "Wide receivers are definitely smaller but they're burning calories because of all that movement they're doing out there.
"They're still eating 1,000 to 2,000 more calories than a typical diet," Harris added.
Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley raved about the cafeteria options and its staff.
"Not only do that cater to us, but as many people as they have to serve, it's always quality," Henley said. "And they care. It's good people back there."
It all adds up to a bustling but vital part of the organization.
"We get so excited when it comes close to the season," Ramirez said. "We try our best to just make them happy. These guys are sweating out there and burning so many calories, so we have to make sure we are also doing our part to sustain that energy."
Harris added: "To help them improve just one to two percent more, that's our job."
