Pride Catering becomes first contract caterer to win 'food for life' gold mark

The award recognised the work carried out at St Stephens School in Twickenham, a Food for Life Flagship school. To achieve the gold, Pride had to show that two-thirds of its food offering is freshly prepared, half is locally-sourced and 30% is organic. Deborah Kenny, senior operations manager for Pride, said: "It was a challenge that we could rise to because we had such good partners in St Stephens School's management team and support from the Soil Association too. Teamwork was even more vital this time around. And as you can see, we worked fast!" And it's just six months ago that Pride scooped a silver award for its high quality food standards, traceability and provenance. Norman Deas, non-exec director at Pride Catering, added: "Being the first contract caterer to get this award is fantastic for us, and we hope we can continue to work with the Food for Life Partnership as we have done for many years. As a catering business, we're aware we have a responsibility to future generations, and working with schools like St Stephens has been rewarding at so many levels." Katrina Kollegaeva of the Soil Association commented: "We are thrilled that Pride and a school so close to London have shown that a Gold Award is possible! Pride were true to form. "They never lost their focus on offering the children delicious and nutritious local and organic meals, sourcing and planning efficiently because of the relatively tight budgets. They were so imaginative with their menus and the children really enjoyed them! We hope they will roll out their successful model in other schools." Pride serves over 200 lunches a day at St Stephens School.