A few years ago, breakfast in the classroom was the new kid on the block, but now it’s becoming the most popular student in school. Before Covid-19, Elizabeth Hord, Student Nutrition Director at Kenton County School District in Northern Kentucky had tried out breakfast in the classroom at a couple of schools. During the pandemic, Hord expanded the program to a total of 14 schools and saw a huge overall improvement.
“It was incredible. Most of our elementary schools were feeding more breakfast than lunch, and I want to say that our breakfast participation nearly doubled,” said Hord.
Armed with 442 Cam GoBoxes® with Flip Lids and Camdollies, Hord’s staff were able to transport breakfast easily and safely to each classroom.
“We would have teachers preorder breakfast for the following day and then our cafeteria would work to fulfill those orders, fill the Cambro boxes and then they would have breakfast in the classroom waiting for them each morning,” said Hord.
Because breakfast in the classroom was more of a need than a want during the pandemic, it paved the way for the program to be positive in the long-run.
“I think one of the Covid-19 blessings is that we could see that breakfast in the classroom was successful. We’re eliminating the supervision piece of needing more teachers to be present in the cafeteria, they can just be present in their classroom. Our custodians were pretty reluctant, like that’s more areas that we have to worry about pests and the kids really took ownership and proved that this can be successful,” said Hord.
“What stands out about these [GoBoxes], is they’re price-right economically, they’re dishwasher safe, and then they’re so lightweight when they’re empty; it’s like practically lifting nothing. It’s a really great product.”
Made of durable expanded polypropylene, GoBoxes are lightweight, temperature retentive and easy to clean.
“The [GoBoxes] were very manageable especially after we did fill them with the meals,” said Hord. “We can take these to the classroom and we didn’t even have to worry about spraying and disinfecting them if we just run them through our dish machine every day.”
Choosing the Flip Lid allowed Hord’s staff to easily access the contents of each GoBox while maintaining temperatures and decreasing the chances of cross-contamination.
“I think the flip top made it so easy. The day before we could prep all of the cold stuff, so the left end of the box was all of our cold and then in the morning you could flip open the other end and just fill it with the hot breakfast entrée,” said Hord.
Contact your local Cambro sales rep to find the best products to support your breakfast in the classroom program.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ADRIANA DESIDERIO IS THE DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER AT CAMBRO.
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Categories: Schools