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Latest News Cucina's MD returns to the floor to spread Christmas cheer

Christmas came early for nearly 50,000 pupils this year. School catering company Cucina Restaurants’ managing director, Steve Quinn has been touring all 37 of the schools and academies up and down the country, preparing and serving nutritious but still delicious food. Pupils were treated to top restaurant standard dinners served by the management team working alongside existing staff.

School caterer Cucina Restaurants has hit back at suggestions by Jamie Oliver that meal standards will slip, if the nutritional guidelines are not mandatory for academies and free schools too and challenged Jamie to come and see higher standards.

School catering company Cucina Restaurants has introduced its new Chocolate Chilli Brownie to heat things up this winter when temperatures get chilly too!

School catering company Cucina Restaurants are getting into the festive spirit with a new and exciting menu especially for Christmas.

School catering company Cucina doubled the money raised for Children in Need at its school restaurants last week, donating a total of £3000 to the charity.

School catering company Cucina has gone back to basics to keep the cost of school meals down.

There is nothing scary about healthy food according to school catering company Cucina – unless of course it’s Halloween.

School catering company Cucina has updated its increasingly popular app in time for the release of the iPhone 4S.

School catering company Cucina has teamed up with academies in Kent and Reading to introduce a ‘Seeds to Plate’ philosophy to students.

The summer holidays have been far from all sun, sea and sand for catering experts at Cucina, who have spent their summer vacation preparing for six new academy contracts, where they have seen sale increase dramatically already.

Senior staff from school catering company Cucina returned to the floor, taking over from the Middlesex school’s catering team as a reward for their outstanding service.

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Cucina Grows its Own People

Catering expert Cucina has started training its first recruit at their new Academy for school leavers.

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Quartet of Academy wins for Cucina

Cucina has won a three-year contract with Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre in Berkshire, which became an independently run Academy in November last year after being judged outstanding by OFSTED. Cucina won a competitive pitch that was shortlisted to four suppliers for the contract at Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre in Reading, which has 1344 pupils, aged 11 to 18. Among it’s Academies across England, Cucina also delivers fresh food to The Basildon Academy in Essex, The Harefield Academy in Middlesex and The Bushey Academy in Hertfordshire.

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Exam Booster Top Ten Tips from Cucina

Education catering expert Cucina has been providing Top Tips for Exam Success at its schools and academies to help stressed students. For example, it is putting up ‘Exam Buster’ top tips posters around schools giving students hints on how nutrition can help their exam performance. The TOP FOUR Tips which will help get candidates through the forthcoming exams are:

Pupils are sampling catering expert Cucina’s new website which has been launched in conjunction with their social media offerings.

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Royal Wedding celebrations for Cucina

Students at schools up and down the country enjoy food fit for a King everyday at Cucina Restaurants, but in the week before the Royal Wedding they will be able to celebrate the event too.

Cucina has won two new contracts and seen weekly sales rocket since opening the new restaurants in January.

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Educational caterer gets royal nod

With preparations afoot for the Royal Wedding, the catering industry is looking forward to finding out who will get to the Top Table this Summer.

Education catering expert Cucina Restaurants Ltd. is celebrating with chef Andy Wilcock after a silver medal win for Andy in Europe in the Culinary World Cup. Andy was chosen to represent Britain as he was a semi-finalist in the 2010 National Chef of Year competition. He was asked to represent the Culinary Academy as part of the Craft Guild of Chefs from England, with a trip to Luxembourg to compete with chefs from all over the World, including as far away as Singapore & the USA.

Staff and pupils at Southfield School for Girls Specialist Sports College in Kettering, Northants are celebrating the award of a Food for Life bronze catering mark at the school following stringent assessment by the Soil Association.

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Viral email on school meal standards

Staff at Teddington School in Middlesex and the Managing Director of Cucina, the catering specialists at the school, were bemused recently by an email received from a parent and school Governor expressing concern over changes to his children’s eating habits at school.

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About Cucina

Cucina is pronounced ‘Cuchina’, the Italian word for Kitchen or a place where food is prepared.

- Cucina is different from other outsourced catering organisations.

- Cucina sets new, higher standards.

- Cucina provides an educational food service, not simply an education food service. Students and guests gain essential life skills embracing healthy eating and learn that food is fun!

- Cucina’s expertise provides an improved service at a greater value. Far from costing more to switch to an improved service with Cucina, the costs could be lower.

- Cucina manages the whole process, removing any day to day concerns.

- Cucina enhances both the learning experience and the learning establishment.

What our customers are saying about us:

Simon Bamford, Assistant Headteacher for Sandhurst School, said:

“Just thought I’d write to let you know how happy we still are with the service provided by yourselves, Katy and the team. As usual with this sort of decision despite the rigours of the selection process there is always a nagging doubt about whether you are going to be able to deliver the service you promised. I am overjoyed that Katy and the team are providing everything we wanted in a caterer – the customers are happy and your staff seem happier in their work than I’d have ever believed possible under the old regime. We would happily vouch for Cucina and recommend them unreservedly. Katy has conclusively proved an excellent and very successful manager. I also need to thank you for your kind donation of the 70 aprons – I wasn?t aware that you had paid for them as well as arranging for their production.”

Dr Phil Bassill, Director of Resources and Business Development, at The Harefield Academy said:

?The Harefield Academy benefit from healthy, well prepared, exciting food from Cucina. We have seen Cucina?s positive influence on the students? energy, behaviour and attention spans. Before Cucina was brought in, a significant number of students were choosing not to eat at The Academy restaurant, but Cucina has really turned this around.?

Lynda Lorentzen, Bursar for Southfield School for Girls Specialist Sports College, said:

?The first impact is the uptake of food, which has quadrupled since Cucina became involved. The first day Steve took over we took more money in a day than we used to in a week and now over 500 girls enjoy a cooked meal at lunch time. Sixth formers who have never had school food are now converts. The girls? behaviour is improving because they are eating better quality food at break time and at lunch and a more balanced diet. This increase in usage has also allowed us to practically eliminate our hefty catering costs so we are delighted on all fronts. We are extremely happy with Cucina and so are the girls. The variety of food on offer is great and has introduced our girls to new dishes from around the world. The standard of food at Southfield now wouldn?t be out of place in a restaurant and all the fresh fruit and vegetables on offer ensure that the girls get the nutrients they need. What?s more, no-one has missed the chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks!?

Bursar for Sandhurst School Colin Summersgill said:

?The school were looking for a company that would offer good quality food as well as a service responsive to the needs of students and staff. It was felt from the presentations and from visiting existing Cucina sites, that Cucina could offer the school what it was looking for. Their staff seemed genuinely interested in providing good quality, tasty and healthy food. Cucina?s innovative ideas on the food offer, for example, wishing to promote healthy food using the concept of stealthy eating, made them stand out from the competition. The food that Cucina produce is excellent and their innovative approach to menus incorporates new legislation in a way that most students will actually choose to eat. Their desire to become involved with the school curriculum and wider school life also contributed to Sandhurst choosing Cucina. Throughout the extensive selection process, Cucina were the unanimous choice of all involved in every aspect of their work. ?

Jane Carpenter, Business and Enterprise Manager for Edgebarrrow School, added:

?Very few of our students were buying lunches before Cucina took over, but now take up has soared. The quality of food Cucina produce is excellent and ?stealthy eating? is a great concept. We are delighted with Cucina?s start and are looking forward to a continuing positive and profitable relationship. Cucina is a young, enthusiastic, exciting and innovative company. The relationship is as important to them as it is to us. Cucina incorporate the hands on involvement of their directors and they have an obvious passion for what they do. The student council liked Cucina and the food that was provided when Cucina pitched for the work. Individual personalities definitely stand out. Cucina has a desire to be part of the School, rather than just being our caterers. Cucina provide high quality food in line with Government guidelines, but still accommodate the needs of all our school community.?

Bursar for Driffield Junior School Karen Hamilton said:

?Cucina impressed us with their quality of food, enthusiasm and the team?s approach. Cucina stood out from other companies who tendered because of their overall package of quality food, personable staff and because of their plans for development. We hope Cucina continue to develop the healthy eating theme, providing the best possible meals for our pupils, whilst further increasing the uptake of school meals by pupils.?

More information on Food Based Standards is available at:

www.marketingprojects.co.uk

www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk

Cucina is sponsoring the Catering Award for the Education Business Awards held at Westminster on November 23
www.ebawards.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

www.tes.co.uk

www.deliciouslyyorkshire.co.uk

To receive the Times Education Supplement coverage of Cucina at Southfield School for Girls Specialist Sports College in pdf format or the MP3: BBC Radio Northampton coverage of Cucina with interviews at Southfield School for Girls Specialist Sports College email us stating the file required info@marketingprojects.co.uk

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