Cucina wins three more contracts

Cucina's professional and innovative approach, which includes appointing a head chef to oversee each site and offering an educational food service which links the classroom to the kitchen, has helped to win the three year contracts. The new Cucina restaurants include pizza ovens and a new service pod at The Basildon Academy, where breakfast and after school meals can be bought in addition to the Cucina Kitchen food. Cucina produces fresh food for teachers, parents and pupils to take home after school and parents have also sampled Cucina's food at after school tastings. Steve Quinn, managing director of Cucina, said: "We are delighted with our new partners and are pleased that our fresh food approach is separating us from our competitors. We have seen huge growth over the last three years in business which is down to the hard efforts of the whole Cucina team. "We are keen to try new ideas, providing more opportunities for pupils to learn about food nutrition. Our chef's theatre shows pupils their food being made and gives them the chance to take part. We have seen sales as much as treble at our many new school contracts and it's nice to be enticing so many new customers and bucking the decline being seen nationally." Head teacher of Queens' School, Terry James added: "We have seen a big increase in the uptake of meals from staff and students since Cucina started. The uptake of meals was low before Cucina with many students buying snacks rather than a 'meal'. Cucina has significantly increased the uptake of all foods, but also of 'meals'. The endorsement of Cucina by other schools, particularly from Marlborough, carried a lot of weight. Cucina's approach is heavily geared towards the students, involving and working with the students in the curriculum."