A Gisborne caterer that makes 600 school lunches daily says the replacement of local suppliers with a national supply chain will be “heavily felt” by the wider community.
From next year, the Government’s school lunch programme will be led by Compass Group NZ, owned by a British multinational of the same name, as part of the consortium awarded the contract
There are currently 156 external suppliers ranging from multi-national providers, Compass Group and Libelle Group, who will remain part of the supply team, to Subway and Pita Pit, to smaller suppliers such as cafes, and small businesses set up to prepare school lunches.
The changes to the school lunch programme will reduce costs by $130 million next year, with even greater cost savings achieved in 2026 when primary schools make the switch.
But chef Amy Spence at current school lunch supplier, Black Fig Catering and Events, said the decision would impact both her staff and the wider community.
“It’s just a really sad day for Gisborne to see this happen,” she said.
Call for large suppliers to support local communities
Spence is now trying to find work for eight staff affected by the change in approach, but she wasn’t certain whether that would be successful.
Making school lunches had been a “significant percentage” of her catering business income, but the wider community would be affected too, she said.
“We use local, we shop local, all our staff are local and we give back to the community.”
Gisborne’s unemployment rate rose to 4.8% in the year to March 2023, according to Infometrics, compared to the national unemployment rate of 3.3% last year.
Spence said: “We supply some of the local schools here who are not part of the school lunch [programme] and we give them free lunches every day so that’s going to be cut now as well.”
She’s now calling on the bigger companies taking over the programme to continue supporting community initiatives in regions where they’ll operate.
Principal disappointed with aspects of new lunches
Currently, suppliers receive around $6-9 dollars per lunch, with older students requiring a larger portion. With the new programme, meals will instead be served up for $3 each.
The programme will see students of all ages eating the same 240g meal, the minimum meal weight for Year 4-8 students in the Education Ministry’s nutritional standards.
The Associate Education Minister said businesses had worked with the Government to “transform” the existing programme, “delivering for children and saving for taxpayers”. (Source: 1News)
High school students will be offered fruit, vegetables and other snacks to meet the 300g minimum meal weight requirement for their age group.
In Northland, Tautoro School principal Tracey Simeon said she was disappointed with the meal sizes shown at the overhauled programme’s launch, saying it’s part of the reason her school would stick with making its own lunches instead.
“It’s the boys, mainly, that will actually require a second helping, and you know what’s happening in their lives, because it’s a case of … we do have to cater for hunger,” she said.
Funding for the internal model, where schools prepare food themselves, has also been reduced from what’s currently provided. It will now be $4 per meal, which will also have to cover the wages of the people who make the food.
Simeon said: “We’ve still got to pay for the power, we’ve still got to pay for the waste, we’ve still got to pay for the travel of finding cheaper options.”
The Northland principal said she would have to find money from other areas of her school budget to continue the internal model, but she wants to make it work because of the benefits she’s seen for her students.
“This programme is probably the best activity that’s actually focusing on the needs of our students and I just think that I’ve got to work a little bit harder to make sure that this programme remains at our school, because there is always a need, there’s a need of making sure that our students are fed and that they’re nutriciously fed,” she said.
Greater focus on rural areas needed – principal
Simeon said the Ministry of Education should review the different costs schools face when preparing lunches, particularly in rural areas, to determine appropriate levels of funding.
The principal added that, being a rural school, she didn’t want to rely on other suppliers in the new programme to transport food to her school and remove waste, especially when weather events can cut off road access.
Simeon said the Gilmours ingredients offered for the internal model at a negotiated price in the new programme wouldn’t work for her school due to its remoteness either.
“We’ve got systems in place and why change a really good system?”
She said there have been a range of positive developments at Tautoro School that she attributes to the introduction of the school lunches.
This included no longer dealing with skin sores and irritation because of students eating a nutritious meal, an increase in attendance and a feeling of greater positivity at the school.
“There’s definitely a holistic culture of learning and there’s no disruptions,” she said.
“Because our students have participated in the lunches, I’ve noticed a considerable decrease in student lunches being stolen, and basically it was because other students were hungry.”
Scale ‘required’ for Govt’s brief on lunches – Compass
Compass Group NZ managing director Paul Harvey said lunches will meet the agreed nutritional guidance, and are consistently and appropriately sized and meet the expectations of schools and students.
“Compass Group has been part of Ka Ora Ka Ako for four years and has longstanding relationships with schools in the programme,” he said in a statement.
“We’ve learnt a lot in that time and have been able to adjust our approach to respond and deliver to the highest quality.”
The ACT leader singled out sushi, couscous and quinoa as off the menu. (Source: 1News)
The company said further information will be provided on its website soon, in response to questions about how often food would be delivered and where it was produced.
Harvey added in a statement that existing suppliers were “incredible”.
“We have been one of them, but it was clear to deliver the brief that an integrated solution with scale was required,” he said.
“Our collective made the choice to come together and provide this opportunity. We are now turning our attention, as part of the execution plan, to explore how we could partner with some of the existing suppliers in the programme, who we know have much to offer.”
He said the Compass Group understood the Ministry of Education’s expectations.
‘Robust’ process went into picking suppliers – ministry
Compass Group and Libelle Group have been subject to performance management by the Ministry of Education at various times since 2021, according to Ministry of Education operations and integration leader Sean Teddy.
“The issues raised have related to food quality, size of meals, surplus/waste, or suitability to special diets,” he stated.
Teddy stated a “robust procurement process” was undertaken to find preferred suppliers.
“We have thoroughly tested the School Lunch Collective’s capability and capacity to provide nutritious and enjoyable lunches for children,” the ministry official said.
“We have agreed the level of service that schools will receive and the way in which we will monitor, measure, and respond to it.”
The ministry stated its service agreement with Compass Group is commercially sensitive.
Implementation and change management, meal provision including quality, safety and nutrition, delivery, reliability, performance and feedback, sustainability, waste and surplus lunches, business continuity and contingency and ongoing improvement are part of the agreement.
Multiple risks with the cost cutting revamp of the Ka Ora, Ka Ako initiative have been revealed in documents proactively released by the Government. (Source: 1News)
How the ministry would monitor how the lunches were delivered was also part of the agreement. Teddy said: “In the case of meal weights, these are recorded at the time of manufacture and regularly reported to the Ministry of Education.
“The ministry will also develop an assurance framework to ensure compliance, which may include spot audits, manufacturing site visits and annual compliance reviews.”
