Through this new series, we will shine a spotlight on each Public Sector Catering Award winner in turn, taking a closer look at their achievements, the challenges they have overcome and the impact they continue to make within their organisations and communities.
By creating a primary-specific brand where none existed, integrating digital insight through DigiTally and embedding purpose into daily school life, the campaign has exceeded expectations across engagement, performance and growth.
Most importantly, Juniper Club has proven that when brand, digital and community work together, marketing can make a measurable difference, one lunchtime at a time.
Until this campaign, Juniper did not have a distinct brand for primary school catering. A single overarching identity was being used across multiple services and age groups, making it difficult for schools, families and pupils to clearly understand what was designed specifically for younger children.
Juniper Club was created to address this gap. It was designed as a dedicated primary school catering brand, aligned to the Juniper master brand but tailored to the needs, behaviours and expectations of primary pupils and their communities.
The Juniper Club marketing initiative set out to create a distinct, recognisable primary catering brand where none previously existed, improve clarity and understanding for schools, families and pupils and increase engagement, participation and positive lunchtime behaviour.
Over an eight week period Juniper delivered a school-ready rollout toolkit, including menus, posters, templates and onboarding materials, a Theme Day Calendar, provenance storytelling assets and engagement tools to drive participation and dining hall graphics and child-friendly communications to increase visibility and understanding.
A key pillar of the Juniper Club campaign was the introduction of a digital pilot in partnership with DigiTally, designed to give pupils a voice and generate actionable insight.
At Maryland Primary School Juniper launched the School Food Waste Challenge, using tablets to allow pupils to record what they ate and explain why food was left. This transformed pupils from passive consumers into active participants in shaping their dining experience.
Over five weeks food waste cost reduced to 12p per meal and over 60% of pupils rated meals positively. Engagement was exceptionally high, with pupils reminding one another to take part.
Juniper Club went live across the Mayflower Federation and over 30 schools. It led to a 43% increase in Theme Day participation year on year. Catering teams reporting improved behaviour and stronger pupil engagement.
One headteacher commented: “The children could see that something was different and could not wait to have lunch.”
Beyond schools, Juniper Club supported wider community initiatives, including a surplus food redistribution pilot delivering an average of 150 hot meals per week for six weeks to homeless hubs using pedal-powered cargo bikes. Funding has now been secured to restart and expand the scheme in 2026.
.