Blueberry Breakfast Bars
March 3, 2026
For National School Breakfast Week, we’re celebrating the incredible School Food Professionals who are using their leadership and culinary talents to reimagine what school breakfast can be!
There’s nothing like starting the day with a scratch-cooked breakfast. Kids who eat a fresh, healthy breakfast have better attendance, perform better academically, have fewer behavioral issues and show improved mental health, compared to those who don’t.
Berkeley Unified School District Nutrition Service Director Rich Hannon believes that every child should have access to healthy morning meals. As part of his Healthy School Food Pathway Fellowship, he’s helping his district introduce a host of tasty, nutritious, made-from-scratch options for their students.
“In the past, Berkeley High School had a lot of ready-serve or heat-and-serve items,” Richard said. “I brought in new recipes and bought new equipment so we could offer a scratch-made breakfast for our kids.”
As part of his Fellowship, Rich developed and refined scalable breakfast recipes and service models for Berkeley High School that can be replicated by other sites throughout the district, from wild blueberry breakfast bars, to oat parfait with berry compote, to cheesy egg and veggie bites with whole wheat biscuits. And they’ve been a resounding hit!
After the debut of the scratch-made breakfast items, breakfast participation at Berkeley High School increased, confirming that food quality and relevance directly improve student participation. Especially on waffle day.
“We make them from scratch, using a Belgian-style batter,” Richard said. “When they’re cooking, you can smell them all the way at the front door of the cafeteria. That really brings the kids running.”
Want to cook a tasty breakfast dish that gives kids what they need to succeed in and beyond the classroom? Try this award-winning Baked Blueberry Oatmeal Bar recipe from The Lunch Box.