School Catering in Manchester
At AiP, our sustainable and nutritious meals not only taste delicious but also set a new standard for food quality in Manchester schools.
School Catering in Manchester
At AiP, our sustainable and nutritious meals not only taste delicious but also set a new standard for food quality in Manchester schools.
Nutrition and Safety Standards Assured
Our on-site and off-site school catering in Manchester go beyond Government School Food Standards. We have expert nutritionists and chefs working on our menus. These reflect seasonal ingredients, balanced nutrition and creative culinary flair. Our safety standards and allergen management policies ensure that all children have access to healthy and delicious school meals.
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
As a sustainable school catering company in Manchester, we produce planet-friendly meals. Local sourcing and ethical suppliers ensure we tread lightly on the planet. We aim to be carbon neutral by 2025, Science-Based Targets Initiative is constantly vetting our climate goals. Our welfare-oriented ingredients include fee-range eggs, British Red Tractor-certified meat and MSC-certified fish. Digital pre-ordering and waste tracking are employed to minimise food waste.
Sustainability initiatives
Allergen management
AiP has a strict and reliable allergen management system for school catering in Manchester. We prepare allergen-free options, vegetarian/vegan options and alternate diets as part of our bespoke catering solutions. Parents can order special dietary meals on The School Food United online ordering platform and trace allergens with detailed information provided. We follow stringent safety measures in the kitchen where we ensure that all allergen -free and alternate diet meals are prepared, held and labelled separately.
Food safety and nutritional standards
Our Primary Authority, the Salford Council, assures our safety standards and processes. We also support Future 50 Foods for more sustainable catering.
Our school meals exceed School Food Standards and fully adhere to the School Food Plan. Our chefs undergo training with the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) and collaborate with leading nutritionists to enhance the nutritional standards of our school meals in Manchester. AiP’s ISO accreditations include ISO 14001:2015, ISO 9001:2015, and ISO 45001:2018.
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 Schools in Manchester
As a catering company in Manchester championing student well-being through food, we deliver bespoke, high-nutritional, enjoyable and engaging school meal programmes to advance child nutrition.
Our expert chefs behind our brands such as Food Smart, Kitcheneers, and The Forum ensure that every school lunch is an enriching experience.
Designed for each age group, our fresh school meals exceed nutritional standards and are made by a dedicated catering team.
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.