In this special edition of Metro Space School, our team celebrated National School Breakfast Week by speaking to school nutrition experts to get their take on school breakfast and how the pandemic changed their operations.
Breakfast is often called the most important meal of the day. For school students, researchers say there is truth in this common phrase.
Children who eat breakfast score better on standardized tests, have an easier time paying attention in class and tend to keep breakfast a major part of their daily routine as they grow older, resulting in a healthier lifestyle.
Today over 90,000 schools participate in a school breakfast program. These schools combined feed approximately 14,770,000 students per-day.
Over the last year, this task had become increasingly difficult as they adapted to providing breakfast to students outside of school.
This was a major shift that was felt throughout every cafeteria staff in the country. For teams that supplied breakfast, the need to deliver meals efficiently became a significant concern. Especially since they are responsible for two daily meals getting to the student body.
Soon, program leaders across the country were looking for products that provided the mobility and efficiency needed to supply students with meals during the pandemic.
Some popular solutions were breakfast carts, pan carriers, and regular tiered carts. The biggest draw to these individual solutions was their mobility and flexibility.
Mobile carts and carriers provide a safe way to transport meals during quarantine delivery runs. Post-pandemic, they can also be used in cafeterias or kitchens to solve temperature retention and efficient movable storage.
One popular option for temperate storage was the Mightylite pan carrier. These carriers are lightweight, making it easy for staff to load them onto a cart or into a bus or van for distribution.
These carriers can be paired with a mobile MetroMax i cart to create a meal delivery system that is easy to transport and easy to clean.
For a system that focuses on improving current items, Metro has introduced a heated shelf that can attach to any SuperErecta unit to create a perfect holding area for hot foods.
With all of the changes in the way schools are run, one thing that didn’t change is the dedication of food staff to their students.
Tania from the Bibb County School District even let students build a menu to boost participation in their school. Instead of the staff prepping a weekly menu, Tania had the idea of allowing students within her district to take a survey to determine what breakfasts will be served.
These suggestions were taken into account when building their new menu for the student body.
These health heroes have worked hard creating programs that continue to keep children healthy and fed within their school districts.
For more information on Metro Space School or our K-12 meal delivery offerings, contact us today.
If you work in a school kitchen that could use a makeover, be sure to sign up for the 2021 Foodservice Makeover School Edition.