A 'Seeds to Plate' philosophy helps save parents money
School catering company Cucina has gone back to basics to keep the cost of school meals down.
A recent increase in food supplier costs ranging between 13 and 18% should have been followed by similar increases in the price of school dinners. However, school catering expert Cucina Restaurants has introduced a ‘seeds to plates’ philosophy at some schools and by going back to using basic ingredients, the catering teams have managed to keep costs down, increasing prices by only 4% in comparison.
Steve Quinn, Managing Director of Cucina, said;
“For us the most important thing is to get kids eating healthily, and, if we’d put up the price of school meals by the same amount our suppliers did we could have seen a surge in the amount of less nutritional packed lunches making an appearance in schools. An added bonus of this money saving approach is that students are getting to know what goes into their meals and where that food comes from with school grown veg!”
Cucina has introduced its ‘seeds to plates’ philosophy of growing vegetables at schools in Kent and Reading and has gone back to basic nutritional ingredients in all 37 of its school restaurants. Vegetables being produced include butternut squash and courgettes for soups and pea shoots, tomatoes and lettuce for salads amongst others.
Cucina Restaurants Ltd. now serves fresh food to 50,000 pupils at 37 contracts up and down the country and is committed to providing quality, healthy meals at all schools. The School Food Trust has just chosen to promote a Cucina case study on its web site about how to increase school meal takeup.
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Please view the website for press releases or large resolution downloadable photos at www.marketingprojects.co.uk/news/cucina in Cucina’s press office there.
For Cucina’s top recipes:
www.marketingprojects.co.uk/news/cucina/news/recipes-from-cucina
1. - ‘Pods to Plates’. Straight from the school garden to the school kitchen.
2. - Students can’t get enough of their school grown veg.
Cucina Restaurants Ltd. was founded by Steve Quinn, a food and support services professional with 26 years experience within the industry, working with international hotel groups such as Rank, Thistle, Hilton and Concorde (in France), as well as contract catering firms Sodexho (formerly Gardner Merchant) and the Compass Group. Steve works with a team of top chefs and professionals to ensure that his vision of great food is truly embraced and delivered.
Cucina provides restaurant quality food and have installed professional chefs to run its operations at the new contracts.
All food is made from scratch in Cucina’s kitchens with chef theatre, ranging from homemade breads, fresh soups, delicious yoghurts, wholesome sandwiches and salads to fresh pizzas baked in professional pizza ovens. Cucina even makes their own tomato ketchup and mango chutney and are constantly updating their menus incorporating ‘stealthy eating’ and fresh ingredients to keep pupils and staff happy at all restaurants.
The School Food Trust has published a case study about Cucina’s work ‘Cucina Catering – inspiring dissatisfied students to give school meals a try again’. It is published at:
http://www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/school-cooks-caterers/case-studies/topic/16/increased-uptake-financial-success/5/0/cucina-catering-inspiring-dissatisfied-students-to-give-school-meals-a-try-again
Steve Quinn is a consultant on the School Food Trust’s Caterer’s Forum. More information at: http://www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/school-cooks-caterers/for-school-cooks-caterers/caterers-forum
Press Office: Marketing Projects Tel: 01244 330000
Jane Harrad-Roberts Mobile: 07785 395705
info@marketingprojects.co.uk www.marketingprojects.co.uk
Client Contact: Cucina Restaurants Ltd Tel: 0845 3891320
Steve Quinn Email: steve@cucina.co.uk
Managing Director Website: www.cucina.co.uk
