Alliance in Partnership launches Kitcheneers

Sodexo’s education catering specialist has launched Kitcheneers, its new approach to school meals, created in collaboration with secondary school pupils.

Kitcheneers reimagines school food and dining rooms, creating a focal point for school communities.

Alliance in Partnership (AiP) commissioned strategic design agency Without to reinvigorate its school meals brand. Collaborating with the children themselves to workshop and develop not only dishes that appeal to their tastes but a whole new look and feel to the dining experience.

Kitcheneers includes a brand new menu, engineered to include the usual crowd-pleasers with healthy twists, easy customisation and lots of variety. It offers a blend of on-the-go and traditional plated meal options from a variety of food stations. A new Kitcheneers app enables students to pre-order their food similar to how they would with high street outlets, helping to alleviate long queues at lunchtimes.

The main event, the lunch menu, includes the traditional favourites of pizza, burgers, katsu curry, peri peri chicken as well as fish and chips, and instead of offering the one complete dish will enable personal tastes, allergies or beliefs to be accommodated with a choice of sides and garnishes available to be selected, not compulsory. By offering a core main dish with optional accompaniments and sides will encourage experimentation and help reduce food waste.

The new food offer also includes a new approach to breakfast and mid-morning snacks.  Hot and cold breakfast items include powerballs, savoury muffins (egg, bacon, vegan sausage), porridge bar, bagels, yoghurt and granola. For those wanting a snack, or early lunch at breaktime will be offered wedges, pizza, soup, loaded nachos, dirty jackets, hummus bar, sandwiches.

Most of the dishes on the new menu represent two of the recommended five a day and in some instances, even two, with all dishes approved by AiP’s team of expert nutritionists.

James Mundy, Marketing Director for Schools, Sodexo UK & Ireland said: “Kitcheneers is here to raise the bar and provide students with the level of care they deserve. A combination of fresh ingredients and regular menu rotations ensures the highest standard of food quality is delivered consistently.
 
“All our food is prepared fresh daily and in accordance with government school food standards, providing healthy, nutritious, quality food at an affordable price. Each dish is bursting with fresh ingredients, vitamins, goodness and most importantly, flavour. Through Kitcheneers, we combine great value with promotions, well-balanced portions, quality ingredients, excellent service and choice.”

The new visual identity of Kitcheneers was influenced by research showing that today’s students are motivated by high street brands that make life simple; who take their mission seriously, but not themselves.

Once-empty walls now feature posters with new messaging and inspirational food menus influenced by the students’ favourite high street brands and their interests such as the environment and ethical ingredients, in a contemporary and relatable way. Likewise, the typography was chosen to be hard-to-ignore and easy-to-digest, helping students make decisions ahead of time and reducing queues and congestion.

Roly Grant, Founder, Without said: “This was a chance to help solve a really important problem. Most school food is commissioned by the grown-ups. By starting with students – inviting them into the kitchen and asking what and how they wanted to eat – we began to understand barriers and opportunities. Combining this with our experience of highstreet brands, we were able to create a simple, modular offer that allows students to balance exploration with personal preference, communicated with opinion and positivity.”

AiP will be introducing Kitcheneers into 50 secondary schools across the UK by the end of 2024.