by Fiona Hamilton, director of strategic growth
England’s school food landscape is entering a significant period of change. Proposed new School Food Standards are set to raise nutritional expectations, tighten controls on HFSS foods and introduce greater emphasis on compliance and enforcement.
The potential impact
For food and drink suppliers, the important question should be: what will schools need from us to make the new rules work?
Operators are set to face a difficult balancing act; managing healthier options, budget constraints, portion and weight requirements, staffing pressures, allergens and operational complexity – all while still serving food pupils actually want to eat.
As one school cook puts it:
“It can be difficult when you’re trying to balance healthier food, tight budgets and all the different rules we have to follow – it’s an added layer to an already complex situation.”
Can schools make new standards work?
The sector believes they can – but previous experience shows the commercial risks of getting implementation wrong.
Tracey Smith, CEO, Schools & Universities, Sodexo UK & Ireland, says:
“Last time the standards changed it was a fundamental shift in the whole feeding of pupils… we all thought we wouldn’t get through it… but it was the right thing to do.”
For Luke Consiglio, founder and CEO of education caterer, The Pantry, the impact was more challenging:
“We saw a decrease in meal uptake, we saw an increase in food costs… I just don’t believe there’s been enough work done underneath that headline.”
Meg Hughes, director of nutrition and sustainability at Compass Education, experienced a similar issue during a pilot:
“We had a loss of sales of over 50% in the secondary school that did the pilot… It cost us a lot of money to do that pilot for six weeks.”
And Deborah Batchelor, managing director and owner of education caterer Stir Food highlights the fundamental commercial measure:
“If we go too far with the restrictions, we’re actually going to turn pupils away, because the measure of our success is uptake.”
For suppliers, the challenge is to help caterers meet the standards without adding cost or complexity – or compromising what pupils actually want to eat.
The opportunity
The new standards create a clear opportunity for suppliers to think beyond the product and start solving the problems around it.
Operators want healthier, practical solutions that work in the reality of a school kitchen – from product formats and pack sizes to allergen information, menu inspiration and operational support.
A school cook’s wish list is revealing:
“I’d like suppliers to make things easier for us by providing clear allergen and weight information, smaller pack sizes, more delivery options and more ideas for healthy dishes and snacks that we can actually use in schools.”
And operators want suppliers to get closer to the reality of their businesses.
Deborah Batchelor says:
“Come and see what we’re actually doing… If you can reduce allergens, we will be able to choose more of it.”
For Tracey Smith, collaboration is key:
“How can we all collaboratively work together to look at how we can reduce that plate cost? … how can we think together using our insight and our data?”
What this means for suppliers
The strongest suppliers in education will be those that understand the challenges behind the standards and build their proposition around them.
That could mean healthier products that don’t compromise taste or uptake, clearer information that makes compliance easier, formats and pack sizes designed around real school-kitchen constraints, or practical menu inspiration that helps turn compliant ingredients into food children want to eat.
It also means getting closer to operators and understanding the problems they are actually trying to solve.
This is where the commercial opportunity lies
At William Murray, we help food and drink businesses turn customer insight into commercial advantage – understanding what buyers and operators need, translating those needs into stronger propositions, and creating the content, campaigns and engagement that take those propositions to market.
The proposed new School Food Standards are a regulatory change. But also a market signal.
The suppliers that understand this shift – and use it to solve real operator problems – will be better placed not just to support schools, but to build stronger propositions and unlock growth in education.
Get set for success
The standards are changing. Is your proposition ready? Let’s talk. Contact Anita Murray.
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Quotes gathered from 1:1 interview with a secondary school catering manager and the Arena Feeding the Future: Rethinking Catering in Education event
