Our culinary staff provides more than 2000 meals and snacks each school day to our students. In order for our students to thrive, we know they need a healthy, balanced diet. We take great pride in the role we play to help provide that nutrition for your student, even if only for one or two meals a day, five days a week.
The Grace Café menu is much more diverse than what most other facilities provide. We offer a full breakfast every morning from eggs, bacon and pancakes to cut daily fresh fruit, yogurt, juice and cereal. Lunch offers even greater variety from entrees like homemade lasagna, orange chicken, and full salad bar to double cheeseburgers, nachos and tacos, and our infamous chicken tenders and fries that Crusaders love! Weekly our menu features items from local favorites like Marco’s pizza and Chick-fil-A. Entrees include a side and beverage, and our al-la-carte and snack menus allow even the pickiest of palettes to find satisfying and healthy options. Beverage options include water, juice, milk and sports drinks.
We serve a full menu breakfast every morning from 7:15-8:00a.m. Students can be dropped off at the Fellowship Hall if they will be eating breakfast. Breakfast items do not need to be pre-ordered, but can be for elementary students. Otherwise, any student may order breakfast items directly at the café. All items are charged directly to the student’s FACTS account. Please speak to your student about making responsible purchases.
The daily lunch menu is available on a monthly calendar on this page, in the Monday Memo, and in the Family Portal, two months in advance. Daily specials may be offered for Middle and High School students. A la carte lunch options are also available.
All snack items are available to Middle and High School students during lunch. They also have a daily scheduled snack time in the Welcome Center at Risen Grounds Coffee Co.
In addition to lunch, Kindergarten and Elementary students have a daily in-class snack time. Snacks for 3rd–5th grade students can be provided for $2.75/day. A Grace Café snack is built into the TK – 2nd grade tuition.
Kindergarten and Elementary student snacks must be pre-ordered via Family Portal by 11pm the prior day. There are three healthy Snack Options to choose from daily, each with two items and the choice of small bottled water or juice box. The Snack Options will change every three months. If a snack is not preordered for a TK–2nd grade student, the Café will select one of the options for the student.
Kindergarten and Elementary students may not purchase snacks items or ice cream at school. These items must be ordered via the Family Portal. Soda and coffee will not be served to any elementary student in the Grace Café, however you may order them hot chocolate.
The option to preorder ice cream for your student is available on the following days:
Regular Lunch Plates include the daily entrée special, one side (mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, etc), fruit, veggies, dessert and a drink (milk, juice or water). The main entrée item can be substituted on the Regular Lunch Plate for a chicken sandwich, corn dog, pizza, chicken nuggets, PB&J or ham sandwich at no extra charge; there is an additional $1 charge to substitute chicken tenders. You cannot make substitutes on Brown Bag Lunches.
We do not accept cash — all purchases are charged to the students FACTS account. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your FACTS account our finance office is available to answer them for you.
Our staff encourages you to have talks with your student about your expectations with breakfast choices and spending. Unfortunately, the system does not allow us to set limits and it is very difficult to monitor this for every student on our end.
If you fall delinquent on your account, a block will be placed and your student will not be allowed to purchase food. Please make arrangements to make sure your child does not go without, in this situation.
If your Kindergarten or Elementary student forgets a lunch at home, a lunch will be provided for them and charged to the student’s FACTS account.
Kindergarten and Elementary student lunches must be preordered by in FACTS by 8am. Breakfast may be preordered for Kindergarten and Elementary students, but is not required to be — any student may order breakfast directly at the Café.
You can order your Elementary students lunch on a daily, weekly or monthly basis through the Family Portal. If you forgot to order your child a lunch, you can place a call before 9am to the school office or the cafeteria. If there is not an order for your child and they did not bring a lunch, your child will be given a Regular Lunch Plate and your FACTS account will be charged. There is a Non-FACTS fee of $3.00 for TK – 5th grades students ordering lunch after 8am via the office or the Café. You are not charged for anything ordered through the Family Portal until after the food has been served, therefore, if your student is absent or did not receive an item for any reason, your account will not be charged.
Log into Parent Portal to Order
Middle and High School students order lunch items at the Café during lunch — pre-order is not available for upper school students.
The Grace Café includes a 4000 square foot dining facility featuring a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen and banquet hall. With a capacity to seat 300, the café hosts a variety of events to include the daily breakfast and lunch meals for our GCS students. During the Covid-19 pandemic, this spacious facility and staggered lunch schedules have allowed our students to enjoy their meals with ample social distancing.
Amid the global pandemic with Covid-19, we have taken extra measures to ensure the sanitation of all areas in our cafeteria and kitchen. We have implemented hand sanitizer machines and shoe sanitizing rugs at every Café entrance.
Our administration and Café staff have been working hand-in-hand with the Health Department to meet and even exceed all requirements in order to keep our students, faculty and staff as safe as possible. We are operating at 50 percent capacity in the Café, with seats taped off so every student has an empty seat to either side and across from them. There is a 15-minute window between each lunch period for cleaning and sanitizing all surfaces and the floor.
We have teamed with Ecolab for all the latest cleaning and sanitizing equipment possible. Learn more about our Health & Wellness practices.
The Grace Café full-time staff is led by Chef Arnold Womble who brings more than 35 years corporate catering experience. The Café staff start each day at 6am with a morning prayer and devotion. They count it an honor to serve the Grace community and pride themselves on delivering an exceptionally high-quality product with friendly service.
In addition to serving GCS students and staff, Grace Café also prepares and delivers snacks and individual box lunches for the Child Development Center. You will also find their smiling faces at the Risen Grounds Coffee Co, located in the Welcome Center, serving frozen chocolates, loaded teas and the best coffee drinks in Lee County.
The Café staff work year round to keep everyone on campus fed, to include Grace summer campers and meals for various school, CDC and Grace Chapel Church functions held on campus. You will find them serving on a Friday evening for The Gathering, Saturday morning for the Men’s Ministry breakfast, end-of-year cook outs, holiday meals, and graduations. Their fruit and cookie trays are a popular items ordered for class parties and school programs. Any event, big or small, Grace Café never disappoints!
