spiceye Posted August 3, 2018 Posted August 3, 2018 Afternoon all, I hope you are enjoying the sunshine I run a private day nursery in North London and we currently supply a cooked hot lunch and pudding to the children everyday. Due to some structural changes where we operate this will not be the case in September and I am looking to outsource the catering. Does anyone use a catering company who deliver quality hot meals every day in London? Many thanks. Quote
Stargrower Posted August 6, 2018 Posted August 6, 2018 We collect our lunches from the local primary school. I drive there (two minutes) and collect them in a big insulated box, then we probe them for temp and dish them up. The next day we return the tins and box when we collect the next one. We have been doing this for years and it works well. We are charged the same as children at the school for a two-course lunch (£2.30). During school holidays we use the Nursery Catering Company who deliver frozen meals which we heat in the oven. Hope that helps. Quote
GFCCCC Posted August 6, 2018 Posted August 6, 2018 12 hours ago, Stargrower said: During school holidays we use the Nursery Catering Company who deliver frozen meals which we heat in the oven. Hope that helps. What do you think of Nursery Catering Company? We tried them for a year in one of our settings but the children didn't like them at all. Quote
Stargrower Posted August 7, 2018 Posted August 7, 2018 We find them mixed. Some meals are fine, others do not respond well to freezing and reheating due to water content I think. Some vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower get a bit waterlogged. We also find some things a bit daft, like frozen baked beans! We just take them out of the tray and heat in the microwave instead of "baking" them in the oven. We have stuck with them for now as our holiday numbers have increased dramatically since the introduction of 30 hours (due to stretched funding) so it isn't practical for us to cook lunch ourselves during holidays as we used to. Quote
finleysmaid Posted August 7, 2018 Posted August 7, 2018 On 03/08/2018 at 14:58, spiceye said: Afternoon all, I hope you are enjoying the sunshine I run a private day nursery in North London and we currently supply a cooked hot lunch and pudding to the children everyday. Due to some structural changes where we operate this will not be the case in September and I am looking to outsource the catering. Does anyone use a catering company who deliver quality hot meals every day in London? Many thanks. as you're north London have you tried to contact a local restaurant/food outlet ? they may be able to do something for you. You would need to make sure their standards are good of course and things are prepared and heated properly...your local EHO might be able to give you more advice on that. I suspect some local business might be very grateful for a regular income . If they have a qualified chef then they can ensure the nutritional values are correct, it's not difficult to find that information online. Quote
spiceye Posted August 7, 2018 Author Posted August 7, 2018 Thanks guy. I did trial Nursery Catering Company but found it very time consuming and didn't always cook thoroughly (especially the rice) so unsure. I am sampling a hot food company tomorrow - they deliver hot food to the setting. I think I need it long term so don't really want to go down the restaurant root, looking for a more established company to provide. Thanks again.x Quote
Stargrower Posted August 7, 2018 Posted August 7, 2018 There is a company called the Yum Yum Food Company which I started to look into but they don't deliver to our area. I think they are London based so might be worth having a look online. From what I remember they cater for nurseries and care homes. Quote
MarshaD Posted August 10, 2018 Posted August 10, 2018 We use Zebedees https://zebedees.co.uk it’s our first year with them. I don’t know if they cover your area. They deliver a hot meal daily in insulated boxes which we just them serve. There’s a autumn / winter menu and spring / summer menu on a three week rota. All CFT approved (although I realise they don’t really exist anymore). They offer veggie and dietary meals eg halal or gluten free. Children like most meals and company have been responsive to things that have been universally panned like fish curry. The only issue we have with them though is numbers they deliver a minimum of 15 meals per day they did give us a grace period at reduced cost to build up but now that are numbers will be lower in the autumn we’ll have to take the hit until we build up again. Quote
LKeyteach Posted August 12, 2018 Posted August 12, 2018 We use Zebedees for tea for afterschool club. It comes in chilled and we warm it. So far it has been successful. Quote
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