Whole School Meals

Company background
Whole School Meals Ltd was created by a group of local people - parents, school governors, local business people - who all are passionate about providing our children with a school meals service that has the children’s well-being at its heart. When we learnt that the contract to provide the service was to be put out to competitive tender in 2006, we decided to act. We had a vision of a community-based company, highly professional in its management, commercially viable, accountable to the schools, parents and children. At its heart would be the goal of providing home-cooked school meals that are healthy, nutritious and which the children enjoy eating; and preparing these meals from fresh, seasonal ingredients that have been produced locally.

We set about forming a Company and prepared our bid for the competitive tender process. In April 2006 we heard that we had been successful.

We intend to make the Company commercially successful and profitable. The distribution of those profits will be determined by the shareholders, the majority of whom are schools and in this way the benefits of the Company’s success will return to the local community.

Our mission
Our Company has clear values that are incorporated into our Mission Statement. We must be commercially viable in order to survive and thrive, and we intend to achieve that viability by staying true to our purpose. We will always be a company that provides great food for the children and supports their health and well-being; that sources local produce whenever possible; that maintains the highest professional standards including food hygiene and health and safety; that values every member of staff and seeks to reward staff fairly and involve them in the Company’s development; that is integrated with the local community of schools, parents and children and consults with them about our activities and key decisions.

Whole School Meals Limited Mission Statement:-

We actively seek the participation of schools, parents, students, staff and
suppliers in the development of the meals and services provided by the Company.

We develop menus that appeal to and broaden student tastes, provide meals of the highest nutritional quality, value for money and thereby aim to increase uptake.

We cost-effectively prepare and cook meals using fresh produce sourced locally, and proactively support the development of a local supply base for fresh produce.

We fully develop staff skills and knowledge.