One of the biggest fears within public sector catering is that rising costs of energy and food could force services to reduce the number of days on which they serve hot food.
This a particular concern in schools, with Neil Porter, LACA’s business director, saying: “There is continued pressure on providing a viable service to the point where schools could potentially question why they have to have a hot meal service when a cold offer is acceptable through the School Food Standards.”
New LACA chair Brad Pearce agrees, but points out: “While it might save on energy costs, the production of cold, sandwich meals is actually significantly more labour intensive. And while not impossible, it would be extremely difficult to meet the standards with a wholly cold offer over a three-week menu cycle. It’s also likely push away more parents and families through the loss of what could be their child’s only hot meal of the day.”
Looking at healthcare, Stuart Wray, vice chair of the Hospital Caterers Association, explains: “Most NHS Trusts will not have assigned energy readings for the catering services so all the anticipated increased costs will have to be predominantly absorbed by the Trust. This, in turn though, could lead to further cost pressures on existing budgets.
“In addition, there may be some Trusts who will now be actively looking at reducing the number of retail outlets or opening times for the short term, which is to be regretted especially as we are making great strides in reintroducing services for NHS staff throughout the 24-hour day.”
And in care, Sue Cawthray, chair of the National Association of Care Catering (NACC) warned: “We are almost at a stage where it will be a choice in ‘heat or eat’ and of course both are vital to the wellbeing of every client accessing our services. We need a call to action before care homes and vital services close.”
For the higher education sector, Phil Rees-Jones, chair of The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO) added: “At the present time, many universities have purchased energy in advance, at a pre ‘crisis’ price, and therefore won’t feel the price increase until sometime in the future. TUCO members are discussing energy issues, but more on a personal basis and on the impact of rising costs on their finances.”