New Report Shows the Benefits and Challenges of On-the-Go School Breakfast

May 10, 2011 – A new School Nutrition Association (SNA) report provides the characteristics, logistics and keys to the success of on-the-go breakfast venues in middle and high schools.  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for children, as it provides the necessary energy for a day of learning and achievement.  Currently, 11.6 million children are served breakfast at schools and 87 percent of schools participate in a School Breakfast Program (SBP).  However, just over one in three students who participate in lunch are also participating in breakfast.  Timing issues and lack of school staff support are considered by school nutrition directors as the primary barriers to student participation in the SBP.

The report reveals, however, that some of the timing challenges are being overcome by offering breakfast to students in more portable, on-the-go venues and these types of innovations are helping fuel the increases in school breakfast participation nationally.  The report also shows a strong interest among school nutrition directors in expanding on-the-go breakfast options and that they believe having the support of the school administration is essential, as others in the school such as teachers and janitors become more accepting of the breakfast program. 

In the report, school nutrition directors share that students won’t go out of their way to eat breakfast.  Therefore, in order to increase breakfast participation, schools need to bring breakfast to students. They also reveal that there can’t be a “one size fits all” approach to on-the-go breakfast.  Many factors such as student schedules and the layout and morning traffic flow of students can influence the type of on-the-go breakfast schools can adopt. 

Source: “Growing School Breakfast Participation: New Ways to Deliver Breakfast to Students,” SNA, 2011.