Cashless catering in schools

Schools, local authorities, consultants and contract caterers gathered to hear details at the 'Cashless Schools Conference' yesterday hosted by Croydon Council's meals service Food in Schools. Allyson Lloyd, corporate catering manager of Food in Schools, told delegates it had cost £500,000 to introduce the cashless system and under agreement with schools a £1 per pupil fee was levied each year to cover maintenance. But against that she estimated the programme had achieved more than £750,000 in efficiency savings. The Croydon scheme began with a pilot project in 2007, before starting to roll it out across 127 schools in 2008 at a rate of about four schools a week. Food in Schools teamed up with ParentPay and Nationwide Retail Systems to design a system adapted to the needs of the council, schools and incumbent contract caterer Eden Foodservice. The flexibility of the scheme permits children to have an account and access it whenever they choose to have a meal without the need to notify anyone. Lloyd said this had not only helped increase meal sales, but had not led to either enormous over-production of food or children left with no choice towards the end of service. Eden managing director Simon James said: "Meal sales were up 5.1% in 2009 over 2008 and that is partly down to the cashless system. As professional caterers we know our customers and we know which meals and which days are likely to be more popular so there has never been an issue of having too many children to feed and not enough food." Useful contacts: www.croydon.gov.uk www.nrsltd.com www.parentpay.com www.edenfoodservice.co.uk