BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Breakfast at the Delano Union School District is getting a makeover with the help of the district’s new Cruising Cafe.
The Cruising Cafe is set to open on Nov. 1 and will begin at middle schools in the Delano Union School District and then expand to elementary schools in the district.
Director of Food Services John Chavolla said the goal of the Cruising Cafe is to bring the food directly to where students are like basketball courts, soccer fields and other areas and encourage them to eat breakfast.
“That way they can study better, concentrate when they’re in the classroom and they don’t feel embarrassed when their stomach is growling inside the classroom,” said Chavolla.
The Cruising Cafe isn’t up and running yet but the district has done a test trial, and Chavolla said it couldn’t have gone better.
“They thought it was an ice cream machine, so they were happy to get in the line and get their breakfast, they were really excited,” said Chavolla.
According to Chavolla, the district is seeing 36% participation in breakfast at middle school sites and 47% participation in breakfast at elementary school sites. In comparison to 60-80% participation for lunch on middle school sites.
Rhonda Respicio is a cook and serves lunch to the students at Cecil Avenue and says many don’t eat breakfast because of the stigma of eating school food but revamping the idea of what that looks like could change those numbers.
“Some of them are too ashamed to go inside because it’s not a cool thing to do once they hit middle school so if we have it out there more kids won’t be ashamed to want to eat. We’ve never had this before. Like any kid, they’re nosey, so if they see what it is they’re going to want to participate in it,” said Respicio.
For more information on the Cruising Cafe, click here.
