Breakfast Service Models

As we mentioned, school breakfast supports students to do their best. Breakfast after the bell models (also called alternative meal models) have shown to reduce chronic absenteeism by 6% throughout a school year. School breakfast can be served in a variety of ways.

Traditional Service Model

This service model is what most schools started out with serving breakfast, at least. Most schools use this service model to provide students with a hot option.

Equipment Needs

Serving lines, milk coolers, point of service (POS) stations, and any other equipment you might think a school cafeteria includes.

Best Practices

Engage students in the meal service! Most secondary students love to customize their meals, which this model provides a perfect opportunity.

Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC)

BIC model can be implemented in several ways, but the end result is the same - the students eat breakfast in the classroom. Breakfast participation increases significantly when utilizing BIC. It’s no myth - present this article to your administration for research backing this service model. There is a 30% mean participation increase when utilizing BIC.

Equipment Needs

Insulated totes or coolers are needed to transport reimbursable meals to each classroom. Each classroom needs a tote/cooler, and if you are planning to offer hot options (totally doable!) - make sure to purchase an additional insulated tote.

Best Practices

Obtain buy-in from stakeholders on this service model. (Want to share the 10 reasons to try BIC? Use this USDA resource.) Because other school staff will help to make sure this model is a success, identify how BIC can meet their needs. A true BIC model can add more stress on our school nutrition professionals because of packaging totes, setting the totes at each classroom, entering in students that took a breakfast, and helping students that do not receive a meal.

Power Tip!

To reduce barriers, make sure the space where students consume breakfast is the same as all other students. When students are separated by those eating and not, breakfast participation will not increase.

Consider the Grab and Go Model

Grab and Go models occur within the hallways of a school (think outside of the cafeteria) to serve the students their meals. From there, students typically consume the meals in a classroom or a designated area.
Grab and Go models are perfect for secondary students, and/or schools where students can enter in the morning from multiple locations.

Consider utilizing a marketing plan to inform all students about this opportunity by allowing students to name the cart and featuring special recipes.
Include the athletic department and other extracurricular activity groups in the marketing plan because you could use the cart to serve meals to students practicing before school starts.