'Seeds to Plate' for academies from Cucina
School catering company Cucina has teamed up with academies in Kent and Reading to introduce a ‘Seeds to Plate’ philosophy to students.
The Cucina catering team’s fresh thinking and fresh food vision encouraged decision makers at seven academies in England to sign contracts this summer, but won both Highdown School and Sixth Form in Reading, and Wilmington Academy in Kent over with the additional idea of using food grown in gardens on site as ingredients in the meals on the new healthy menu.
The catering company, which now caters for 37 different schools and academies up and down the country, developed the new idea not only to promote healthy eating but to help students understand what is in the meals they eat and support horticulture on the curriculum.
Mark Poulter, Principle at Wilmington Academy said:
“We are very pleased with the new catering at Wilmington Academy. The students are definitely feeling the benefit of a much improved and varied selection of foods. The improvement in the restaurant is another positive step forward in the overall standards being set by the academy.
The symbiotic cooperation between our Horticulture curriculum and the restaurant is very important. The students really enjoy knowing that the food they are growing is then used in our kitchens.”
Steve Quinn, Managing Director of Cucina, said;
“It’s great to have happy clients who can see the positive difference healthy food makes. Our ‘stealthy eating’ approach has helped us more than double the uptake of school dinners in our restaurants across England. It has also enabled our partner schools to significantly reduce their catering costs.” He added; “At both Highdown and Wilmington we have adopted a ‘seeds to plate’ philosophy for the kitchens, growing vegetables in the Academies’ garden and, in line with the horticulture curriculum there, we are using ‘academy grown’ butternut squashes, courgettes and other fantastic vegetables in our daily menu.”
Furthermore the catering expert has announced their latest range of healthy menus, which are now available throughout all of their 37 restaurants across England. These include a range of Big Foot sub sandwiches, hot wraps and a 1 2 3 Go! Salad bar.
Cucina’s seven new contracts are, The Business Academy Bexley, Longfields Academy, Leigh Technology Academy, Milestone Academy and Wilmington Academy, all of which are based in Kent, Stockley Academy in Middlesex and Highdown School and Sixth form in Reading.
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 a case study about how it does this for its web site.
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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
