PKL at National School Meals Week 2014

As part of National School Meals Week, we installed a PKL temporary kitchen outside the House of Commons last Tuesday to feed school lunches to MPs, peers and members of the public.

Some of the dishes served may have come as a surprise to anyone unaware of recent changes to school food – the menu included options such as organic beef Jamaican pie with mash, Valencia salmon paella, sweet potato curry with roti bread, and Arabian lamb and rice. These are all meals which are on the menu at local schools, so they represented a real example of modern school food.

The temporary kitchen was delivered at the crack of dawn and installed in Old Palace Yard. Local school chefs then used the kitchen to cook and serve lunch from 12-2pm. The kitchen drew quite a crowd, with lots of people coming to sample the food.

MPs who stopped by to taste the school lunches included David Laws, Sharon Hodgson, Stephen Mosley and Edward Davey among others. The event was also attended by Linda Creegan, CEO of the Children’s Food Trust, and Myles Bremner, Director of the School Food Plan.

By 4.30pm the kitchen was all packed up and loaded back onto our lorry ready to head back to PKL HQ. With over 25 years’ experience supplying temporary kitchens, permanent KitchenPods and Food Cubes to the education sector, we’ve seen first-hand how school food has changed in recent years and we’re proud to have been part of this exciting event which has helped showcase just how far school food has come.

PKL Celebrates 25 Years with School Food Survey

As part of PKL’s 25th anniversary we are launching a ’25 on 25’ survey to find out more about school lunches from the past, present and future, and will be studying the potential impact this will have on schools who are currently investing in new equipment.

We’re asking people who were in primary school in 1989 to take our survey about school lunches from 1989 to find out how school meals have evolved over the past 25 years. So if you would like to be a part of this pioneering study you can take our short survey at: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8CY5P3V
 
As part of our survey we will be visiting groups of today’s primary school children to compare what they like and loathe about their school lunches. We’ll also be talking to leading school meals experts to gather opinions on the school food of today, 25 years ago and gain an understanding of what the school food environment might look like 25 years from now.

For schools who are working to implement the School Food Plan, we’ll be sharing insight into what pressure these changes in school food services will put on the school kitchen of 2039 and the implications involved.
 
We look forward to sharing our findings with you in the new year. Until then, you might find it useful to visit our SchoolKitchens.com website, or why not take a look at our 8 Point Plan for Schools that outlines a number of school food catering solutions for 2013 and beyond.

National School Meals Week – PKL Reminisces

This week is National School Meals Week, which got us thinking about our favourite school meals from our own school days. Having taken a very scientific survey of the office, we discovered some rather interesting trends. We fear that some of these answers show our age, but here are some of our responses to the question:

“What was your favourite school meal?”

Spam fritters followed by jam sponge pudding and custard. I also have fond memories of the Christmas pudding which had a real sixpence hidden inside.
Peter Schad, Commercial Director

Fish fingers, chips and peas.
Natalie, IT Support

Veggie lasagne.
Andy, Graphic Designer

Jacket potato with cheese. The flapjack was brilliant too and only cost 12p!
Ed, Business Development

Christmas dinner!
Alastair, CAD Designer

Lasagne!
Will, Financial Controller

Steak pie. At least, I think it was steak…
Ed, IT Manager

Chicken fricassee followed by jam roly poly.
Lynda, Finance

Fish and chips on a Friday, and the Christmas dinners.
Sam, Marketing Manager

I don’t know, but I was a plate monitor so I got to sit at the head of the table!
Sue, Office Manager

Chocolate crunch with pink custard.
Linda, Finance

Chocolate crunch with pink custard on a Friday.
Ian, KitchenPod Sales Manager

At this point, the whole office started enthusiastically reminiscing about chocolate crunch with pink custard. It appears that this was something of a phenomenon in schools across the country. There was quite some debate about how and why the custard was pink, though everyone agreed wholeheartedly that this was the best pudding they’ve ever eaten. Discussion became so animated that we decided to give up and abandon the survey. As we did though, our colleague Mike who looks after our Mid West Catering Equipment division called up. As a parting question, we asked him about his favourite school meal:

Savoury mince with fried bread… and chocolate crunch with pink custard!
Mike, Mid West Catering Equipment Sales

We despair.

As you can probably tell, most of us grew up in a time before nutrition was a top priority in schools, and when discussion turned to our least favourite school meal memories (many involving limp, grey cabbage and thick custard skin), we’re very glad that times have changed!

If you’re busy working to implement the new School Food Plan in your school, you might find it useful to read our 8 Point Plan for Schools which we wrote a few months ago in response to the Plan's announcement. We also outline a number of catering solutions for schools, as well as funding information, on our recently relaunched SchoolKitchens.com website.

We hope you’re all enjoying National School Meals Week, and hope it’s successful in promoting your school meals service. Please do give us a ring if you’d like any advice on solutions to help boost your ability to offer great school meals; we have a range of options including KitchenPods, Food Cubes and our new KitchenFM for Schools product which enables you to contract hire all your catering equipment.

Now, we’re off to look up chocolate crunch and pink custard recipes…
 

PKL's 8 Point Plan for Schools

The School Food Plan was recently released, outlining a number of recommendations to improve school food.

Recommendations are centred on improving the take up of school meals, ensuring that children stay on site at lunch times to purchase their lunch, and getting food education back onto the curriculum.

PKL Group is a leading supplier of catering infrastructure solutions and has 25 years of experience in delivering both permanent and temporary kitchens to the education sector. We have worked closely with a number of organisations related to the provision and teaching of food in the education sector including the Children’s Food Trust, LACA and the National Association of School Business Managers.

We have identified a number of issues where schools may require some assistance to help implement changes to their catering and dining operations in line with recommendations made in the School Food Plan. Based on our experience working within the education sector, we have provided advice and information on how these can be overcome.

Issue: Implementing stay on site
Solution: For secondary schools in particular, keeping pupils on site and encouraging better nutritional habits is a key recommendation of the School Food Plan, in order to increase school food take up.

Competing against high street coffee shops and fast food chains can be tough, but one tried and tested solution is installing a modular servery unit in school grounds. This helps ease pressure on the main canteen, reduces queue times, and provides a quicker, easier and more desirable alternative for pupils.

Food can be cooked in the main canteen and then transferred to the servery unit for sale. The unit can also be used to sell alternative food options such as sandwiches, fruit, paninis and cold drinks. PKL Food Cubes are specifically mentioned on page 68 of the School Food Plan and are a proven solution for cutting queue times.

Issue: Pupils are not interested in the school meals on offer
Solution: The introduction of the School Food Plan represents an excellent opportunity to shake up current school meal menus and get pupils interested in school food. Improving the image of school food is a key aim of the School Food Plan, and is vital to its success.

Try getting pupils involved in developing tasty new menu options alongside your cooks.  We have seen this first hand when a school we worked with involved its pupils in helping to design the menu when implementing a new catering option. The results saw greater pupil engagement from the very beginning and helped to significantly improve school meal take up once the new catering outlet was operational.

In addition, you could create a “theatre cooking area” where your cooks can create interest through stir-frying, making fajitas, and creating delicious food in front of your pupils. 

Issue: No school kitchen on site / current kitchen is not fit for purpose
Solution: If you don’t currently have a school kitchen, or if the current one is not fit for purpose, you may need to have a new school kitchen built to enable fresh hot food to be produced on site. In these circumstances, you have two main options. These include undertaking building work with traditional on-site construction, or the installation of a permanent modular kitchen building.

The traditional construction option is likely to cause unwanted disruption on site, and could take a significant amount of time and money. The alternative option would be a modular building, built to order off-site and then delivered and installed at your school within a matter of hours, reducing disruption on site and often costing less than traditional construction methods, without compromising on quality. Modular buildings such as PKL KitchenPods are recommended by the Department of Education which outlines various baseline designs for new schools, as well as by Galliford Try’s report “The Optimum Primary School”. This option is also ideal for schools who wish to convert their existing school kitchen into valuable additional teaching space, and locate a new kitchen elsewhere on site. 

Issue: Catering equipment in the school kitchen is not fit for purpose
Solution: The School Food Plan recommends the introduction of breakfast clubs as well as increasing school meal numbers, so schools’ catering equipment will come under greater use than ever before. Many school kitchens are operating with out of date, unreliable catering equipment that is often not properly maintained, and is unlikely to cope well with increased use. Capital investment in new equipment is often not financially possible, or desirable, for schools, so contract rental of the complete catering equipment estate can be an ideal solution.

PKL has a dedicated product for the education sector called KitchenFM for Schools, which allows schools to pay a fixed monthly fee in return for the rental, service and maintenance of all catering equipment. We’ll even buy existing items owned by the school and include them in the package. This contract rental means that schools have known, fixed costs, and should catering equipment break down, it will be fixed or replaced as part of the inclusive service. This gives schools peace of mind and ensures that the catering provision will not suffer in the event of equipment failure, as under KitchenFM for Schools, PKL invest in the upkeep of catering equipment, not the school.

Issue: Not enough dining space / unappealing dining environment
Solution: One of the key outcomes of the School Food Plan is that Ofsted will consider behaviour and culture in the dining hall as one of the areas of assessment. If you have a pleasant dining environment, pupils will want to eat there, and this will be reflected in behaviour.

If your dining hall is overcrowded and tired, or if it doubles up as a sports hall or teaching space, consider adding a purpose-built, improved dining hall. Modular construction is ideal for this as it is quick and can be inexpensive compared to traditional construction, can create a standalone building or extend an existing one, and offers a high quality dining environment.

Having teachers eat their school food alongside pupils has also been shown to improve table manners and make school meals more attractive, especially among primary schools.  Additionally, try viewing the dining hall through the eyes of your pupils to see how your current facility looks and operates, to get a better idea of how you can make improvements to it.

Issue: Lack of Food Technology teaching kitchens
Solution: With the teaching of cooking becoming compulsory for all pupils up to the age of 14 from September 2014 onwards, now is the time for schools to ensure they will have enough food teaching space available. A holistic approach to food education is ideal for engaging pupils with food, and this change in the curriculum offers an excellent opportunity for pupils to grow their own vegetables and herbs and learn to cook with them to create delicious meals. This will help foster an interest in fresh, nutritious food and impact positively on school meal take up too.

Food technology kitchens which incorporate facilities to enable pupils to grow their own veg are ideal solutions which provide a flexible, high quality learning environment. These facilities could also be used for after school cooking lessons for parents, pupils and community members, strengthening ties with the local community and spreading the healthy eating message.

For primary schools, the Jamie Oliver Kitchen Garden Project provides an excellent resource if you require help or advice with getting food education back on the curriculum.

Issue: Lack of funding
Solution: Finding out what funding is available, and accessing it can be a daunting task. Luckily, there is a large amount of funding available for school kitchen and dining facilities, both from the government and other organisations. For anyone considering PKL school solutions, we can offer advice on suitable funding streams and even assist with funding applications if required. In addition, we offer a range of flexible procurement options to schools for new kitchens, kitchen estate management and for new kiosk buildings, including lease hire, contract rental and capital purchase.

Issue: Lack of cooking skills / confidence of school cooks
Solution: The School Food Plan aims to improve the skills of the catering workforce, as well as bringing school cooks closer to the rest of the catering sector. Revised food based standards will be introduced into schools, and food and nutrition will be included in head teacher training. Most school cooks are great at what they do, however some may lack confidence in implementing a new range of school meals, or may need to update their cooking skills to tackle new menu options.

There are many organisations that can help with skills development and support, and the Children’s Food Trust or the Food For Life Partnership are great places to start. They can offer a huge range of advice and assistance to both school catering staff and head teachers to help schools improve their food offering.

Further Information
If you are planning any changes to your school meal provision in light of the recommendations made in the School Food Plan and would like some more information regarding the options that are available to you in terms of catering infrastructure, please do get in contact with PKL.

We are vastly experienced in the supply of permanent kitchens, food kiosks, catering equipment and teaching kitchens to the education sector and can provide you with expert help and assistance, whatever your project.

For more information, contact PKL on 0845 840 4242, email postbox@pkl.co.uk or visit us on the web at www.pkl.co.uk.

PKL & BAM FM Shortlisted for LACA Award

We are delighted to announce that our joint nomination with BAM FM has been shortlisted for one of LACA's Awards for Excellence. We are shortlisted for the Nan Berger Memorial Award, which recognises "exemplary work in the field of innovation, accreditation and/or collaboration which has led to a successful result either with increased meal uptake or raising the profile of the school catering service".

The nomination was for our joint installation of a Food Cube at a school in Bristol, which has impacted significantly on the uptake of school meals. The Food Cube has resulted in an overall increase of 22% in school meal revenue, as the convenience and popularity of the Cube helps keep lunchtime spend in school and enables a wider variety of food options to be served. Additionally, 33% of overall sales for break and lunch are now made through the Food Cube, and this has massively alleviated the pressure on queuing space and time in the main dining hall.

For more information on our Food Cubes, visit our website or call us to have a chat with one of our project consultants.

To see the full shortlist of nominations for LACA's Awards for Excellence, click here.

School Kitchen Solutions from PKL

PKL provide a wide range of solutions for the education sector with products ranging from complete school kitchen buildings to catering equipment. Over the next few weeks, our Blog will inform you of the range of kitchens for schools and catering equipment available from PKL.

Our products are specified for a wide range of requirements including a complete new kitchen, temporary kitchens for times of refurbishment and catering equipment for the education sector.

We have worked hand in hand with schools and local authorities over the last 20 years to provide a wide range of kitchen and catering solutions for schools, colleges and universities. Projects within the last year include:

Powys Council – 3 separate kitchens for schools
Croydon Council – 2 permanent modular school kitchens
Cardiff Council – Temporary and permanent facilities on 3 schools sites
High Storrs Comprehensive – Temporary Kitchen for BSF refurbishment

PKL are a Buying solutions accredited supplier, meaning local authorities and schools can procure products and benefit from cost savings leveraged from using a national government procurement organisation. This is turn helps local authorities meet spending targets set by the Government.

The use of Buying Solutions also means that users are fully compliant with UK and European procurement legislation.

For further information on procuring products and services through the Buying Solutions Frameworks, contact the Buying Solutions Service Desk on 0845 410 2222, or email custcare@ogcbs.gsi.gov.uk