Caterers get behind School Meals Matters campaign

Contract caterers are stepping up their support for the School Meals Matter campaign by presenting the petition to staff at schools and to parents of pupils.

Simon James, managing director of Eden Foodservice, the education catering arm of Initial, has taken the campaign to his employees, making sure that the message has been communicated down from head office, via the operation managers to all the on-site staff at the 900 schools the caterer serves.

In addition, James said that Eden was determined to make sure its clients were made aware of the risk to school meals and that details had been passed to head teachers.

Gwyndaf Pritchard, Eden operations manager for 57 schools in Anglesey, said: "We're trying to create a domino effect. I've sent the information to all the school cooks, who have then presented it to the head teachers and the information is being passed down to the parents ultimately."

For schools with limited web access, the operations managers have been printing copies of the petition form for kitchen staff to sign and return with to their regional office with the Friday figures. Pritchard's Llangefni office has already sent in a bundle of 50 signed forms with a promise of more to follow.

Sodexo has also committed to the campaign. Details have been sent to every Sodexo e‑mail user in the UK and Ireland. The information has also been posted to the company's intranet site, which can be accessed by all of the firm's 43,000 employees.

To show your support, please visit www.caterersearch.com/SMM.

Mark Lewis, editor of Caterer and Hotelkeeper, explains the aims of the School Meals Matter campaign>>

Senior figures add support to School Meals campaign>>

By Janie Stamford

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