Long gone are the days of serving children basic, bland and unhealthy meals, synonymous with ‘school dinners’ – young people deserve nutritious, exciting and flavoursome food made with high quality ingredients to help them learn and thrive throughout the school day.
As noted by the British Nutrition Foundation, a balanced, varied diet is crucial for ensuring children get the nutrients they need to develop and stay healthy, including sufficient calcium for bone strength and vitamin A to support immunity.
School meals play a vital role in children’s health and development, but providing the volume, variety and quality of food needed isn’t always easy. The current economic, cultural and political landscape is impacting food supplies across sectors, and education is feeling the effects.
Paired with increasing rates of food intolerance and allergies, as well as staff shortages, education catering providers have a lot to balance in 2025.
Funding
Underfunding has been an issue in the education sector for a number of years, and this looks as though it is only set to continue.
The Department for Education recently announced that its funding for universal infant free school meals would rise from £2.58 to just £2.61 per child in September – a 3p increase which is below expected inflation and has been met with real concern.
This modest increase not only fails to cover rising food prices, but wage increases for catering staff too. The cost of delivering nutritious, high-quality meals is now much higher, and for those schools with significant Free School Meals (FSM) populations, the gap between funding and actual cost is widening, forcing school leaders to make difficult decisions.
Insufficient funding to cover the cost of meals puts pressure on schools whose budgets are already stretched, and also risks compromising the quality of food being provided. Pre-prepared and processed foods are considerably cheaper than fresh ingredients, but do not compete with nutritional value.
All children deserve healthy, filling and enjoyable food at school, and many caterers are having to find new, creative and cheaper ways to provide this. Across the industry we’re seeing many examples, including more sustainable sourcing, zero-waste kitchen models, and even AI-driven menu planning and smart kitchen technology that helps reduce energy use.
Compromising the health of our young people with foods high in salt or sugar simply isn’t an option, but a lack of funding is making this a challenge.
Allergies and dietary requirements
It has been reported that the number of people with food allergies in the UK has more than doubled since 2008, with the largest increase seen in young children. Caterers can’t take any risks when it comes to allergies as the consequences could be fatal, so it’s vital that those children who need them have access to meals suited to their dietary needs.
Other dietary requirements have also risen in recent years. For instance, studies have shown that more than one in five children are vegan or would like to consume a vegan diet, while some young people have certain requirements due to religious beliefs and may require halal or kosher meat.
Catering for these different requirements can be a challenge given the variety that may exist in one school alone, but it’s important that all children have access to balanced meals that meet their needs and are safe for them to consume.
By working with catering specialists that prioritise these individual needs, schools can develop quality, bespoke menus that eliminate any risks while keeping students happy and healthy.
We’re seeing forward-thinking schools and caterers collaborating more closely than ever to embed food education, pupil voices and culturally relevant menus into their offering, proactively finding solutions in this ever-changing environment.
Food shortages and rising costs
Climate change, food insecurity, supply chain issues and rising costs have all had an impact on the food we have available to us, putting significant strain on supplies. Just recently we have seen sudden price surges of 38% on beef and 20% on poultry, driven by foot-and-mouth and bird flu outbreaks in Europe, causing further disruption.
According to a LACA, 90% of education caterers are experiencing food shortages as a result of supply chain issues and the rising cost of food, demonstrating the extent of the problem.
In March, the Office for National Statistics reported a three per cent annual rise in food prices, meaning buying ingredients in bulk to cater for the education sector has become much more expensive.
Caterers are having to change or reduce their menus as a result, with ingredients such as fish, pasta, chicken, and certain fruits and vegetables now all harder to come by. Maintaining cost control without compromising on freshness, flavour or creativity poses another obstacle, and catering teams are working hard to ensure students and customers receive nutritious, flavoursome, high-quality food at fair prices.
Worryingly, despite their best efforts, 34 per cent of caterers are reported to have considered using more processed food to plug the gaps, left with no other choice when faced with these mounting challenges. This is a difficult situation for the education catering sector, and more support is desperately needed from the Government to overcome this challenge.
Staff shortages
According to a survey by LACA, 78% of caterers report a lack of applicants for job postings, and 63% fail to receive applications from those with the required skills.
Roles in education catering, particularly support roles, are often deemed as having no clear path for progression, making it challenging to attract new talent. An improvement in pay, working conditions and career advancement – something we take significant pride in at Olive Dining - would all go some way to solve this issue, but public perceptions need to be changed too.
Children deserve to have a high-quality service when it comes to their school meals, so it’s important to provide onsite catering teams with the bespoke training and mentoring support required to not only ensure they are knowledgeable, confident and comfortable in their roles, but so that this extends into a positive and inclusive service for the students and the wider school community in which they are operating.
Being catered for with nutritious food can make a real difference in students’ lives, and catering teams deserve respect and to feel valued for their services.
Final thoughts
Ultimately, it’s no secret that it’s a challenging time for catering in the education sector. Providing healthy, filling and delicious meals to help children thrive is the number one priority for caterers across the board, but this is becoming increasingly more difficult.
A lack of funding, food shortages and price increases are all placing huge strains on supplies, while staff shortages are making it challenging for the sector to operate at its best. With students accessing free school meals at an all-time high and more children requiring special diets than in years past, it’s crucial that we surpass these pressures to provide the quality and variety of food needed to ensure every child gets the school meal they deserve.