School Catering in Herefordshire
At AiP, We’re ambitious about nurturing through food and have designed menus that make healthy feel fun, tasty and easy while offering something everyone can enjoy.Through our school catering services in Herefordshire we want pupils to say goodbye to overly processed, pre-prepared, pre-packaged, one-menu-fits-all meals and hello to fresh, fast, easy, and inspiring.
School Catering in Herefordshire
At AiP, We’re ambitious about nurturing through food and have designed menus that make healthy feel fun, tasty and easy while offering something everyone can enjoy.Through our school catering services in Herefordshire we want pupils to say goodbye to overly processed, pre-prepared, pre-packaged, one-menu-fits-all meals and hello to fresh, fast, easy, and inspiring.
Nutrition and Safety Standards Assured
Whether served on-site or off-site, our menus include nutritious and flavourful options designed to cater to students of all ages, ensuring an engaging, enjoyable and safe dining experience. We’re dedicated to providing high-quality school catering in Herefordshire in collaboration with our food development teams, nutritionists and chefs.
Food to make students smile
Founded over 20 years ago and operating in over 400 educational institutions, we’re the experts in school catering. Our local-first approach delivers innovative menus full of tried and tested recipes that support pupil happiness and wellbeing.
Food Smart
Built for primary school pupils, Food Smart is about having fun with food, investing in dining spaces, and offering engaging menus.
Kitcheneers
Retail-focused, our secondary school offering is a fresh approach to health and wellbeing with our health by stealth programme.
The Forum
Food Smart
Built for primary school pupils, Food Smart is about having fun with food, investing in dining spaces, and offering engaging menus.
The Kitcheneers
The Forum
Sustainability initiatives
At AiP we are serious about sustainability. Our goal is to be an environmentally conscious caterer, committed to enhancing our catering service for both people and the planet. One way we’re doing this is by measuring, reporting, and reducing our carbon footprint by sourcing locally, seasonally and ethically along with taking initiatives such as utilising shorter supply chains, using wonky vegetables and digital pre-ordering and waste tracking systems. We aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strive for carbon neutrality status by 2025.
Sustainability initiatives
At AiP we are serious about sustainability. Our goal is to be an environmentally conscious caterer, committed to enhancing our catering service for both people and the planet. One way we’re doing this is by measuring, reporting, and reducing our carbon footprint by sourcing locally, seasonally and ethically along with taking initiatives such as utilising shorter supply chains, using wonky vegetables and digital pre-ordering and waste tracking systems. We aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strive for carbon neutrality status by 2025.
Allergen management
We believe in nutritional equality and inclusivity and are dedicated to ensure that every child enjoys a safe dining experience. We have a stringent allergen management policy in place for all schools we serve in Herefordshire. We offer allergen-free menu options and utilise the School Food United platform for easy allergen tracking and ordering. We also work with schools to identify students with special dietary needs, ensuring meals are prepared, stored and served separately with dedicated utensils.
Food safety and nutritional standards
All our school meals and snacks consistently surpass Government School Food Standards in accordance with the School Food Plan. Our chefs undergo training with the British Nutrition Foundation, fostering continuous enhancement in the nutritional quality of our meals. We comply with all food safety regulations, overseen by our Primary Authority, the Salford Council, ensuring our commitment to food safety standards and processes.
Awards and accreditations
We’re proud to hold many awards and accreditations that speak to our high standards for safety and sustainability
Why work with Us?
Producing delicious freshly cooked meals
Providing a fun environment for the pupils
Delivering a packed schedule of theme events
Employing happy friendly smiling staff
Offering a range of special offers
Introducing gardening and cookery clubs
Facilitating competitions, prizes and rewards
Inviting parents in for lunch
Working in partnership with the school
A friendly and open management style
Nutritionally Balanced Student Meals for School in Herefordshire
With over 20 years of experience in the industry, AiP offers bespoke, digital, sustainable catering solutions to schools in Herefordshire. We believe in inclusive meals and prioritise pupil happiness and wellbeing, offering innovative menus tailored for primary, secondary and sixth-form students. With initiatives such as chef-delivered workshops and sugar swap classes, we aim to promote healthy eating among students. All our meals exceed government standards and comply with food safety regulations, with accreditation from the Salford Council and ISO certifications ensuring quality and safety. Our ISO certifications include ISO 14001: 2015, ISO 9901: 2015 and ISO 45001: 2018.
What food safety standards are followed by AiP?
- We have the following ISO accreditation : ISO 14001: 2015, ISO 9901: 2015, ISO 45001: 2018.
- We comply with all regulations, and we have a legal partnership with our Primary Authority (Salford Council) which assures all of our food safety standards/processes
How does AiP address allergen management?
- Any child with a dietary requirement complete our special diets form. The kitchen team and the school agree a plan to identify these children as they come into the dining hall at service.
- The form is then given to the kitchen and our nutrition team. Together, they create the information needed for safe meals. In the instance of allergy or intolerances, they will create a menu with at least 2 daily options (in most instances) from which the parent/carer and pupil can choose their meals.
- Once the parent has chosen the meals, the kitchen prepares the chosen items and holds them separately, labelled with the pupil’s name and allergen. This is then served to the pupil as they come into the dining hall with separate utensils and plates.
Does AiP accommodate special dietary needs for primary school students?
Does AiP accommodate special dietary needs for secondary school students?
What Certifications do you hold to certify menu quality and sourcing?
- Food For Life Bronze
- MSC licence
- All meat used is British Red Tractor Certified
Key considerations to take onboard when selecting a caterer for schools?
- What is your number one requirement from a school meal provider?
- Only supplies Education Catering. All of our insight, research, and development is focussed on providing freshly prepared, healthy, and tasty meals to schools, using the School Food Plan and Public Health information as our starting point.
- Can you meet the needs of our diverse school population?
- At AiP, we know that one menu doesn’t fit all schools. We offer a selector style menu so that you can tailor the menu to your needs.
- Queues are a big problem at our school, we need to minimise wait times and get children eating within our timetable
- At AiP, we have come up with several strategies to help decrease waiting times such as sign posting along the queue so that students know what is on offer before they arrive, pre-ordering so that meals are ready when they arrive, direct marketing to parents and students so they’re aware of what’s on offer before they arrive, and opening multiple servery points to split traffic. In addition, our primary school pre payment solution, School Food United, allows parents to pre order via the app to help improve speed.
Do you cater for different types of dietary preferences?
- Yes, we offer at least 2 vegetarian options each day.
- We strive to make our vegetarian options vegan friendly as well. We do offer at least one vegan option each day.
- We participate in Meat Free Mondays.
- All of our dessert options are vegetarian. Some of them are also vegan friendly.
- We do not use pork gelatine in any of our desserts.
- We can offer Halal meat if requested by the school.