Lewisham Council chooses Chartwells again

Contract caterer Chartwells has retained the school catering contract for Lewisham Council, worth £6.5m a year in turnover.

Chartwells, the education division of Compass Group UK & Ireland, has provided the catering for 20,000 students at 78 schools and two civic centres in Lewisham for the past 10 years, making it one of the largest councils with which the caterer works.

The new three-year contract, with an additional two years based on performance, went out to competitive tender with plans for future initiatives. These include the introduction of a training kitchen, which will be used to teach home economics to children and for parents who want to gain confidence in cooking healthy meals.

Chartwells is already running several programmes, including Meet the Grower sessions, where suppliers teach children how food goes from farm or sea to plate, promoting a message of sustainability.

Tony Byrne, Chartwells business director said: "We're ready and prepared for the introduction of the Government's new nutritional standards in September and look forward to rolling out the new menus and working with teachers, students and parents in Lewisham to show how healthy eating can be fun."

Over the past 10 years, Chartwells has introduced many initiatives at Lewisham. In 2005, it become one of the first local authorities in the country to serve fresh food and provide a freshly prepared menu in its schools.

Chartwells also provides catering to other local authorities in the area including Westminster City Council and Southwark Council.

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By Rosalind Mullen

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