Revolutionising School Catering

Rupert Weber, Head of Education at apetito unveils its game-changing system which delivers ultimate efficiency.

“At apetito we’re proud to be different. As the UK’s first and only premium pre-prepared meals system, we offer unrivalled food quality and commercial benefits to schools, which can’t be achieved in traditional in-house or contracted kitchens.

From speaking to Headteachers and School Leaders, we know that when it comes to catering, cost and efficiencies are number one priorities for schools at the moment, given the current climate of rising prices, reduced food quality and labour shortages.

“We know that schools want reduced costs and increased efficiency in the kitchen – without loss of quality. And we help schools achieve that through giving them full control of their menus and staff, whilst delivering exceptional meals and a service that is easily adapted to suit bespoke needs and help deliver a strong uptake.

“To help tackle these issues, we have recently
launched a new catering system that is already
proving extremely popular, now feeding
over 10,000 pupils a day and helping schools who
need to serve hundreds of children with nutritious,
tasty meals, whilst keeping costs down.”

“The system couldn’t be simpler. Schools have a choice of over 150 meals, enabling bespoke menus to suit every schools needs. Schools can create their menus and place orders using our intuitive ordering platform, myapetito, which also allows schools to manage their allergen and nutritional requirements with ease. Our team of expert chefs produce the meals with clearly defined portion guidance, making it easy for schools to order the exact amount of meals needed, removing food wastage.

“When kitchen staff are preparing for lunchtime, all they need to do is pop our pre-portioned meals into oven trays, placing them in the oven and they will come out as if they have been freshly prepared on-site, ready to be served. With apetito it really is that simple to deliver exceptional quality, chef-made meals without the stress, risks, staff or costs of traditional systems.
“This is a system we developed hand in hand with schools to ensure that it makes mealtimes at school as simple and efficient as possible. It’s a tried and tested model and has been hugely successful with the schools we’re partnering with – in fact we’re already feeding thousands of pupils every day using this system.

“There are countless benefits to this system. Schools are able streamline and simplify their kitchen operations. Unlike traditional kitchen setups that demand a team of skilled chefs and kitchen staff to source ingredients and prepare meals from scratch for pupils with increasingly diverse dietary requirements, our catering system eliminates much of this labour-intensive work. In fact, our pre-prepared system typically requires 50% less staff and completely removes the requirement for skilled cooks and chefs.

“We are really proud of our new catering
system and our service because we know
it is making a real difference to schools.
We work in partnership with schools to give
them full control and flexibility over catering,
whilst delivering great quality, highly
nutritious meals that give pupils the fuel
they need to focus on learning.”

“This is because at apetito, we do the heavy lifting for you. Our team of expert chefs, dietitians and nutritionists have developed a huge range of delicious and nutritious pre-prepared meals so that schools don’t need these specialist skills in-house. Kitchen staff simply need to decant, cook and serve.

“Our system also delivers peace of mind for schools when catering for children. Food safety is also a huge benefit with our system. Every single batch of meals we make are fully tested in our on site laboratories for harmful pathogens, so schools can have total confidence and reassurance in the safety of our meals.

“Meals are also tested to ensure the nutritional standards meet their stated values. apetito even has a full range of meals that do not contain any of the 14 EU recognised allergens. Each batch of our free-from meals are thoroughly tested to ensure they are allergen free, so schools can serve a wide range of delicious and safe meals they can completely trust and children with allergies can enjoy similar meals to their peers.

“By removing the reliance on skilled cooks and chefs, schools can mitigate the impact of ongoing labour shortages and guarantee consistent meal quality whilst delivering significant cost savings which can be redeployed into frontline learning budgets.

“Another advantage of our system, which we’ve found is very attractive to schools is that our system needs far less kitchen space and equipment. Before moving to apetito, many of our partners were facing significant costs to refurbish their kitchens, that their budgets did not allow for. Many other partners did not have a kitchen at all, requiring them to rely on hot food from nearby sites, resulting in poor food quality. apetito enables schools to cook on site, improving food quality and uptake, with less kitchen space and costs when compared to any other catering system.

“One school we’ve launched in the last 6 months
were quoted £320,000 to refurbish their ageing
traditional in-house kitchen. By partnering
with apetito, they were able to save £250,000
on redesigning their new kitchen around the
apetito system.

“Every day three kitchen assistants serve over 400 meals a day, with no chef required. In fact, the school’s hot meal uptake has grown by 300% since implementing apetito six months ago and the school has been able to facilitate this growth without the need for additional kitchen staff. The management and kitchen staff have loved how simple it has been to serve hundreds of students a day, whilst the pupils are enjoying tucking into a wide variety, of delicious meals– it really is a win win!

“If you already have a provision that delivers high-quality food in a cost-effective way, you may not need our help right now. However, if you are struggling, please do reach out to us by contacting education@apetito.co.uk,
or by calling 01223 634845.
“We’re also going to be showcasing how much our system simplifies school lunchtimes at Stand D14 at the Schools & Academies Show at the ExCeL in London on Wednesday 1st May, so why not come and see our system for yourself and find out how partnering with apetito delivers great quality, highly nutritious meals, and most importantly, meals your children will love, whilst giving you full control and flexibility over your catering.”

To learn more about apetito’s service, please visit
https://apetito.link/Education-Today