Cityserve, the food division of Birmingham City Council, provides around 70,000 meals every school day across Birmingham.
The company is expanding its offering to give schools more flexibility when it comes to how they run their catering through the launch of its Cityserve Select service.
Through the service, schools will be offered food purchasing, menu and recipe development, advice on legislation, site assessments and audits. Schools can also seek help with marketing and branding, service optimisation and financial management.
The new service will meet the needs of schools who want to manage their catering in-house, with Cityserve support but without the full service, accordng to commercial development manager, Brian Cape.
He said: “At Cityserve we’re aware that one size doesn’t fit all, especially when it comes to schools and their children’s needs.
“While our Cityserve Direct service is catering for the needs of hundreds of education faculties across the Midlands, we know there are some who want to keep parts of their catering in-house, yet need expert input to make sure those services run smoothly. That’s where Cityserve Select comes in.
“This new service will allow schools to pick and choose parts of the Cityserve service that will benefit them - and their children - most.”
As an accredited Qualsafe Training Centre, Cityserve can also deliver in-house industry-specific legislative and compliance training, as well as in-school and central Craft Chef skills training via its team of expert development chefs.
Cape added: “Every school and business is different. We don’t offer a one-size-fits-all approach and our experts will work with you to mix and match to create a package of competitively priced services that suit your requirements, ethos and budget.
“We have a team of true, passionate specialists, with hundreds of years of professional and educational catering experience and we also have the scale within the region to provide an exceptionally personal and highly competitive service and support package.
“But most of all – you can trust us. We are a Local Authority service and aren’t motivated by profit – just the health and wellbeing of children.”
Birmingham City Council recently won the award of best catering service team for the second year running at the APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence) Awards 2017.