The School District of Palm Beach County, Florida
School Breakfast
Celebrating 10 Years Of Wellness
Power Up With Breakfast
The Palm Beach County School Food Service Department has been growing its breakfast program for the past 12 years. From the inception, we began by adding schools incrementally to be able to reach the goal of providing a free breakfast for all students, regardless of the school’s Free & Reduced participation. Now that all schools, including Charters, are participating in the Power Up With Breakfast program, we have seen a large increase in the numbers of students choosing to have breakfast at school. We fed nearly 8.5 million students in the 2015-2016 school year, more than doubling the number of breakfasts served since we began the program in 2004. In addition to the regular school year, we served 356,200 breakfast meals during summer school.
Marketing has been a very important factor in our success. The School Food Service marketing team created posters for each of the grade levels, which are displayed in school cafeterias to encourage students to eat breakfast each day. We have sent flyers home, used Parent Link to advertise the program to parents and also created a multi-page booklet that is sent to every student’s family that highlights information for our programs including the Free and Reduced Meal application process, the free breakfast program, the After School Snack Program and the Afterschool Meals Program supported by USDA and sanctioned through the Department of Health.
We believe that keeping up with trends while still adhering to strict guidelines that promote good nutrition is what helps keeping our students coming to breakfast each morning. Pairing that with a winning marketing program that spreads the word about free breakfast with colorful posters and tag lines has proved to be a winning combination.
Studies show that hungry children arriving at school have less energy available for cognitive and social activities. Simply stated, hungry children cannot learn. It is why we have focused so much energy into our goal of feeding children and why our vision of Kid’s First will continue to be a priority in our goal to get the word out about the benefits of free school breakfast.
Palm Beach County School Breakfast Week
September 21-25, 2015
"School Breakfast is DINO-mite!"
September 15-18, 2015, was the inaugural Palm Beach County School Breakfast Week, a celebratory week for students in the district created to bring excitement and attention to the importance of school breakfast. This year’s theme was “School Breakfast is DINO-mite!" and students across the district enjoyed the fun dinosaur-themed décor and menu throughout the week.
Promotional kits were also distributed to schools and included a large poster, dinosaur “footprints”, tropical leaves, dinosaur figures, and other décor. In addition to the marketing kit, a themed menu with items such as prehistoric pancakes, T-rex-iffic toast, and Stegosaurus sausage biscuit were offered for breakfast during the week. A customized banner was displayed on our website and NutriSlice to help promote the week even more to parents and staff.
National School Breakfast Week
March 7-11 2016
“Wake Up to School Breakfast!”
During the week of March 7 – 11, cafeterias throughout Palm Beach County celebrated National School Breakfast Week. National School Breakfast Week was launched in 1989 to raise awareness of the availability of the School Breakfast Program to all children and to promote the links between eating a good breakfast, academic achievement, and healthy lifestyles. This year’s theme, “Wake Up to School Breakfast”, reminds the entire school community that school breakfast provides a healthy, energizing start to the day for students. A nutritious breakfast at the start of the day is one way to ensure students are getting the best education they can. National School Breakfast Week helps to educate parents and students about all the healthy and appealing choices offered at school daily by School Food Service.
In celebration of National School Breakfast Week, the School Food Service Department sent out promotional materials to Food Service Managers around the district. The marketing materials included aprons, flyers, balloons, activity sheets, and décor to get students excited to “Wake Up” their minds and bodies with breakfast.