How to prepare your school cafeteria for ‘Chefs in Schools’

Have you done what’s needed to prepare your school cafeteria for the pros?

If (like us) you’ve been keeping a close eye on the new ‘Chefs in Schools‘ initiative, you’ll know how getting the pros in can transform your school menu and give pupils the cooking skills they need to live healthily.

But, even if you’re not taking part, there’s a lesson here; having tip-top school cooking equipment can take your school’s cooking capacity all the way to an A*. Let’s look a little closer.

Haven’t you heard about the Chefs in Schools initiative?!

Chefs in Schools is a super-exciting new charity that’s partnering schools up with chefs from famous venues and restaurant chains.

The folks who founded Chefs in Schools (including Nicole Pisani, formerly of Nopi) have two main aims for the initiative:

• Give schools the smarts they need to provide more nutritious meals for less
• Give students the understanding they need to eat smart and avoid obesity

The initiative is supported by a great range of restaurant chains, like Wahaca, Dishoom, Murano, River Cafe and Moro. There’s also a dash of stardust, with Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith having joined up last month.

Pisani quit her high-flying job in Soho to join forces with Gayhurst Primary School, Hackney. Since then, she’s:

• Retrained all the school cooks
• Added a healthy dash of restaurant-style organisation
• Chopped the school menu down to only the freshest ingredients
• And, reduced the average cost of a school meal from £1.20 to just 80p per child

Louise Nichols, executive head teacher at Gayhurst, gave a glowing report: “Chefs in Schools is a fantastic initiative that will support head teachers move towards a better and often more affordable offer for lunches in their schools.”

In the longer term, Chefs in Schools wants to get 100 pro chefs into 100 schools within the next five years.

How to prepare your school cafeteria to cook with the pros

If you’re hoping to cook with the pros, you’d better prepare your school cafeteria beforehand.

Even if not, the ‘recipe’ below can help you improve your school meals and teach kids the nutritional lessons they need.

1) Catering refrigeration

Start with a thick base of catering refrigeration capacity, including fridges and freezers for the classroom or cafeteria.

Here, you’ll store all your tasty, fresh produce; fruits, veg, beans, pulses, lean meats and dairy products. Getting the right refrigeration equipment will keep your ingredients fresher for longer, and can even help you save money on your school utility bill.

2) Professional cookers

Then, add a fiery dash of new oven capacity for the classroom, or professional appliances in the cafeteria.

This is where you’ll blend all those healthy ingredients, before simmering, stewing or grilling them into a mouth-watering yet nutritional concoction.

3) Dishwashers

Finish with a liberal sprinkling of energy-efficient school dishwashers.

This’ll make it easier to wrap things up when your lessons come to an end, and give you capacity to turn things around quickly in the cafeteria. It’ll also help you cut your overall energy usage.

Prepare your school cafeteria to hit pro level with a stack of advanced utilities that won’t blow your budget.

Get the professional catering setup you need to improve your students’ nutritional intake while trimming your school budget. Speak to our leasing experts today.