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Nutrition Staff

 Your role in expanding school breakfast

A school’s food service team is the backbone of a strong school breakfast program – they know their students and can lead the charge to implement an alternative breakfast model. Learn more about how to roll out a successful alternative breakfast model and increase participation, all while strengthening your bottom line.

Key Resources

Fact Sheet for Nutrition Staff

Nebraska-specific information for Nutrition Directors and staff including common concerns and solutions that have proven useful in other districts.

Nebraska School Breakfast Playbook

Everything you need to know to implement an alternative school breakfast model in your school or district. Get answers to common questions, tips and timelines, and great examples from right here in Nebraska.

Nebraska School Nutrition and Equity

Equity in school nutrition is a vital part of equity in education. Visit this Nebraska Appleseed webpage for Nebraska-specific district fact sheets and materials that can help you evaluate and improve your school nutrition programs.

 Why Alternative Breakfast Models?

  • Alternative breakfast models increase participation and revenue, often with the same number of staff or fewer. These additional funds can be used to offset other school nutrition program costs.
  • Alternative breakfast models don’t require changes to bus or classroom schedules. Grab and Go, and Second Chance, and Breakfast in the Classroom models have been successfully implemented without schedule changes in classrooms across Nebraska.
  • Administrators make decisions but nutrition staff work directly with kids. If you see hunger in your school or district, talk about exploring or piloting breakfast models that meet more kids where they are. A pilot program can prove your effort will run smoothly so you can then push for more lasting change.
  • Parents and caregivers should have a voice in planning for an alternative breakfast model. Creating a strong communication plan, sharing potential challenges and benefits, and providing opportunities for feedback can help address most parent concerns and invite community participation.

Nutrition Staff-Specific Resources

Choosing the Right Breakfast Model: Learn about the different Breakfast After the Bell models and determine which models suit your community best.

Pre-Implementation Checklist: Preparing for implementation can make the transition from traditional cafeteria breakfast to Breakfast After the Bell smoother and increase the chances of maintaining a successful breakfast program. Allowing for adaptations during early implementation can help improve your program along the way. This resource provides a detailed checklist that schools can use to help prepare for Breakfast After the Bell implementation.

Breakfast After the Bell Rollout Timelines: The Breakfast in the Classroom and Grab and Go to the Classroom Rollout Timelines outline action steps school stakeholders can take to help prepare for the launch of Breakfast After the Bell. The rollout timelines span both long-term action steps and short-term action steps — starting at 8 weeks before implementation and counting down each week until launch. 

Menu Planning: There are many things to consider when building a Breakfast After the Bell menu. Food must meet USDA guidelines and be appealing to kids. Food must also be easily transportable and easy to consume in the classroom. These sample menus and menu planning tools can help you build your menu and succeed in the kitchen as well as with kids. 

Equipment Tips: Determining the equipment needs of your Breakfast After the Bell program can be a daunting process. Let this resource help guide you in choosing what equipment would be useful for whichever Breakfast After the Bell model you choose.

Financial Management: The financial impact of expanding school breakfast can be calculated so you have an idea how it will affect the budget. Here are multiple resources that schools can use to determine how expanding school breakfast will affect the revenue and overall operation of breakfast, and analyze variable costs versus fixed costs. 

Participation Tips And Student Surveys: High breakfast participation is the result of many different aspects of the breakfast program running smoothly, from the logistics of the program, to gaining buy-in from the student body. These resources showcase tips and tactics schools can use to increase breakfast participation. 

National School Breakfast Resources