ARAMARK Helps Students Wake up with AMP Up

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In an effort to encourage students to start the day off right, ARAMARK, a world leader in providing professional services, is introducing AMP Up with Breakfast, a new breakfast program for kindergarten through 12^th grade students. The program is being launched in ARAMARK-managed school districts across the country during National School Breakfast Week, March 5-9, 2007.

“Studies reveal that students are more alert and perform better in class when they eat breakfast, and student attendance also improves.”

While the benefits of breakfast and good nutrition are well documented, statistics show that only two percent of children ages 2-19 receive daily balanced nutrition according to USDA guidelines. Approximately 12 percent of students report skipping breakfast and only 11 percent of students eat a breakfast that contains foods from three food groups.

ARAMARK Education developed AMP Up with Breakfast to provide an option for students who arrive at school without the benefit of a nutritious morning meal. This initiative provides school districts with a convenient and proactive solution to ensure students are prepared to have a productive school day.

The program offers easy-to-implement breakfast delivery options for classrooms, cafeterias and/or portable stations, with a focus on convenience. It features over 400 grab and go products to build a new breakfast program menu or enhance existing breakfast offerings. Students can enjoy great-tasting, morning favorites, such as fruits, wholesome hot foods, cereals, breakfast snacks, yogurt, smoothies and juice beverages.

“We are dedicated to providing students with a nutritious breakfast,” said Dennis Maple, president, ARAMARK Education. "Studies reveal that students are more alert and perform better in class when they eat breakfast, and student attendance also improves.”

In honor of this year’s National School Breakfast Week theme, “A World of School Breakfasts,” ARAMARK has developed customized educational tools, posters, banners, letters to parents, advertisements in school papers, public address announcements, and graphics to communicate the importance of eating a well-balanced breakfast. In addition to AMP Up with Breakfast, ARAMARK-managed school districts are celebrating National School Breakfast Week with many special events:

Appleton School District (Appleton, WI) is giving students passports to be stamped with country flags for each day they eat breakfast. Posters and letters to parents are being distributed to generate awareness about the importance of breakfast.
Belvidere School District (Belvidere, IL) is celebrating with public address announcements, table tents, and daily prize drawings for students who eat breakfast.
Dumas Independent School District (Dumas, TX) is giving students special National School Breakfast Week posters to take home. Students who eat breakfast will also have a chance to win Breakfast with the Principal. To reflect the “World of School Breakfasts” theme, cameras and binoculars are prizes in Lucky Breakfast Tray contests.
Houston Independent School District (Houston, TX) is celebrating with a “Breakfast and Beyond” promotion, where students have the chance to win new backpacks. The district is also reminding students to eat breakfast with fun public address announcements and posters.
At Roselle School District (Union, NJ), the ARAMARK team developed assembly presentations and lesson plans to teach students about the importance of eating a healthy breakfast.
School District of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA) communications students created commercials that encouraged students to start their day off right by eating breakfast. The students who produced the winning commercial received a $1,000 college scholarship from the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association and their commercial will be aired as a public service announcement on local TV stations during National School Breakfast Week.

ARAMARK provides food service to more than 420 school districts nationwide and serves nearly 350 million meals annually to K-12 students.

About ARAMARK Education

ARAMARK Education provides a complete range of food, facility, uniform and other support services to more than 650 K-12 school districts in the U.S. It offers public and private education institutions a family of dining and facility services including: on-site and off-site breakfast and lunch meal programs, after-school snacks, catering, nutrition education, retail design and operations, maintenance, custodial, grounds, energy management, construction management, and building commissioning. For more information on ARAMARK’s K-12 programs, please visit www.aramarkschools.com.

About ARAMARK

ARAMARK is a leader in professional services, providing award-winning food services, facilities management, and uniform and career apparel to health care institutions, universities and school districts, stadiums and arenas, and businesses around the world. In FORTUNE magazine's 2006 list of "America's Most Admired Companies," ARAMARK was ranked number one in its industry, consistently ranking since 1998 as one of the top three most admired companies in its industry as evaluated by peers and industry analysts. The company was also ranked first in its industry in the 2006 FORTUNE 500 survey. Headquartered in Philadelphia, ARAMARK has approximately 240,000 employees serving clients in 18 countries. Learn more at the company's Web site, www.aramark.com.