School Food Catering Contract Management

Local research has also highlighted challenges that schools face when choosing and managing school food catering contracts. 

Free Support and Resources 

Best-practice guidance, webinar recordings, and a catering management checklist are available to support the development and management of school food catering contracts:

Barnet Public Health School Catering Recommendations

Barnet Public Health School Food FAQ Position Statement

Primary School Catering Webinar

Secondary School Catering Webinar

School Food Catering Management Checklist

In-depth catering case study

Barnet Public Health commissioned Health Education Partnership (HEP) in the 23-24 academic year to provide intensive catering support to a state secondary school in Barnet. The commissioned work was designed to be used as a catering support case study that would offer wider learning that can be applied across all Barnet secondary school food provision and gain insight into the specific challenges secondary schools experience in achieving the school food standards. A summary of the key findings are summarised below. For full details, please view the Catering Support Case Study Report. 

Key findings:

Improving school food provision requires early engagement before catering contracts are agreed, strong stakeholder buy-in, clearer support on School Food Standards, and innovative approaches to healthy food provision. Breakfast and mid-morning offers remain the greatest compliance challenges, while achieving Healthy Schools London Bronze criteria represents a notable accomplishment for secondary schools.