In today’s challenging economic climate, one of the most common concerns we hear from state schools is whether they are truly getting value for money.
Catering is a significant budget item for schools, so it’s natural to seek reassurance that it’s being managed effectively. While cost matters, value for money isn’t just about finances – it’s about whether the service is delivering the best possible experience for students and staff in the most efficient way.
For schools that outsource their catering, assessing value for money can be difficult. Schools may have agreed KPIs with their catering provider, but without benchmarking against similar institutions, it’s difficult to determine whether these KPIs are truly robust.
It’s a similar challenge too for those that undertake their own catering. How should they measure if their service is competitive, modernised, on trend, cost effective and performing well?
This is where we come in.
We have the largest source of contractor data in the UK, collated over decades of working within the education sector. This is updated every month by all mainstream contractors, and many smaller ones, serving over 750 schools across the UK.
This enables us to work with schools and their contractors to determine whether their KPIs align with industry best practices, fall below expectations, or exceed standards. Beyond financial measures, we also assess whether the service provider delivers on social values, sustainability goals, and student satisfaction.
In addition, we collect thousands of food and drink prices every month from suppliers to schools. We then assess and report on whether the prices paid are competitive for individual schools undertaking their own catering. Where that’s not the case, we can help schools improve those positions.
Aside from just the food costs, we also capture student and staff feedback on catering services across the country and with our UK wide team of experts we understand what’s trending, what works well and what schools need to help modernise their catering services.
In 2024 alone, we supported 792,000 students in accessing better food choices and improved services.
When schools gain insight into what’s working elsewhere, they can benefit from what others are doing, make better informed choices, proactively implement improvements, modernise what they do and anticipate challenges before they arise.
State schools looking to ensure they are getting the best value from their catering service can learn more about how we’re helping others to do just that here