Pick a sandwich, two sides, a drink and a sweet treat for $5. A toy, fancy napkin and free delivery make it a done deal.

“I mean really — for $5,” said teacher Barbara Boulet, a regular customer of the Deali’s Affordable Boxed Lunch Program.

Deali’s is a student-run business that makes and delivers lunches every Thursday to most Auburn schools and to Auburn City Hall. The cooks are students in the Regional Educational Treatment Center/Success of Students program.

“I like Deali’s because I love cooking,” Larisha Herrick, a 13-year-old seventh-grader, said while sauteing vegetables in the kitchen at the former Lake Street Elementary School.

Herrick lives in a “family of cooks” and is a first-year student in the program, a school for grades 3 to 12 that specializes in special education and on-the-job training.

The Deali’s business plan was created five years ago by students working on a summer project. They bake on Tuesday, prepare the food on Wednesday and deliver to eight places on Thursday. Ten to 12 students rotate in and out of the kitchen if their classroom work is complete and their attendance is good.

“You can’t fail and come to Deali’s. You can’t be absent and come to Deali’s,” Karen Mercier, one of three staff members who help in the kitchen, said. “They are more motivated in class because they want to come here,” she said.

“We kind of hang it out there as a carrot,” program director Nancy Lewis said.

A recipe of two ingredients created the business name.

“They were doing a deli and they were doing a deal,” Mercier said about how Deali’s came to be.

Boulet, a kindergarten teacher at Park Avenue Elementary, looks forward to her deal each week. “You can’t beat it,” she said. “The desserts are delicious and they give you lots of choices.

“It’s kind of like Gippers,” said Boulet, referring to how both Deali’s and the popular Auburn restaurant let you pick two sides. “It’s very high quality and thought out.

“If I am feeling exceptionally lazy, I might order two lunches,” Boulet said. “I hate to pack a bagged lunch, but I love to eat one.”

Students cook for around 60 city employees each week in a licensed kitchen.

“We use to be happy with 30 orders. Now we get 50-60 on a regular basis,” Cynthia Morgan, a social worker at RETC/SOS, said.

“We follow safe services standards,” Mercier said. “So, when the kids ask me why we do that, I tell them because it’s in the book. They are learning the real job skills they would need in a professional kitchen.”

 “One reason Deali’s is so successful is we have learned to put our hands in our pockets,” Lewis said about letting the kids do the work instead of the adult staff. “We are educators first and cooks second. That is why it takes so many of us to get things done,” she said.

“It’s a great program,” said Stacey Bilodeau, a special education teacher at Sherwood Heights Elementary School who orders from Deali’s every Thursday. “It’s helping them. It’s helping me. It’s inexpensive and it’s yummy. It’s a nice treat for teachers at the end of the week.”