ISBA

86 www.theisba.org.uk ADVERTORIAL A ‘large selection of appetising and high-quality nutritious meals to choose from’ was top of the requirement list when Our Lady’s Preparatory School in Crowthorne decided to look for a new mealtime provider. Making mealtimes easy at Our Lady’s Preparatory School Previously, the independent preparatory school had used an in-house catering provision to feed its 250 children – serving a morning snack, main meal and an afternoon snack. Whilst the food provided was filling, it was often heavily ‘bread- based’ and didn’t always deliver optimal nutritional value to the children or cater for a wide variety of meal choice. Head, Michael Stone, was determined to evaluate the school’s catering solution to ensure they were providing the most nutritionally beneficial meals possible to the children. He maintains that high quality meals not only help young children to be healthy and grow with the right nutrients, but they also provide ‘fuel’ for them to learn productively. He said: “During our review, we took a detailed look at the many options that were available to us. As every school will know, ‘one size doesn’t fit all’ and catering for pupils is complex, taking into account the personal likes and dislikes of children. There’s a real need to have something that appeals to everyone, while also minimising waste and keeping costs at the right level”. apetito was recommended to him as it specialises in providing food to the education, health and social care sectors and after an intensive review period where they looked at all the options in the marketplace, Our Lady’s appointed apetito as the school’s new partner to mealtimes. More than 200 dishes – main meals and desserts to choose from Mr Stone and his team were impressed with apetito’s ability to deliver the exceptional nutritional value, choice and variety, with the quality of ingredients, taste and flavour they wanted for their school meals. All apetito’s meals are carefully created by its in-house teams of chefs and dietitians to ensure that every child can enjoy delicious meals, packed with the right nutrients. With apetito, Our Lady’s now has access to more than 200 different child-friendly dishes, which can be easily selected online using the ‘my apetito’ ordering platform and are delivered weekly. The school has a dedicated account manager who is available to answer any menu or delivery queries, and also regularly checks in to ensure they are happy with the food – along with recommending new dishes and sending free samples. The streamlined kitchen operation has also helped increase the catering efficiency; less