Free school food marketing training to go on tour

A total of 15 training days will provide 900 staff from kitchens, schools, catering firms and local authorities with practical solutions and skills enabling them to better market school food to students. The workshops run until July 2010 and interested delegates are encouraged to visit www.sftmarketingworkshops.co.uk for the full list of dates and venues. The Trust's chair, Rob Rees, said: "We know from our research that effective marketing of school food can really make an impact on the number of pupils buying a lunch. "The Trust has worked with schools around the country to test out a range of techniques, with great success. These workshops are about learning how to apply those techniques to boost lunch numbers - and to prove that you can do it with minimal budget." Part of the training will focus on the Trust's free, online marketing design tool called MADGe (www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/madge) MADGe is completely free to schools and caterers, offering a wide range of professionally-designed marketing materials including posters, letters, stickers and even online adverts which can be personalised by any school to suit their individual needs. The School Food Trust is the organisation responsible for transforming food and food skills.