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Newsletter - November 2019

Published: Saturday, 30th November 2019

November newsletter

Welcome to Cityserve’s newsletter

Helping launch the National Food Conversation

Cityserve welcomed founder of food chain Leon, Henry Dimbleby, and a team from the National Food Strategy to our headquarters on October 23 as part of the launch of the National Food Conversation.

As part of a series of events across Birmingham, the team visited Cityserve to see one of our engagements with a local school. The day was the launch of a year-long ‘Birmingham Food Conversation’ which will form part of the National Food Strategy looking at the entire food chain ‘from field to fork’. Our visitors sat in on the engagement with Bellfield Junior School, seeing them make healthy pizzas and learn about sugar and nutrition.

Speaking at Cityserve, Henry said: “It’s fantastic to be here at Cityserve to launch national food conversations as part of the National Food Strategy.” He said while the government had recognised that changes need to be made to the food system, it needs cultural change as well as policy and law. He added: “It’s really exciting seeing what’s happening here at Cityserve teaching children to just to cook but to enjoy food, to taste it, to experience it. We need to reconnect with our food, we need to enjoy the pleasure of cooking and eating together if we’re going to have a system for the future that doesn’t make us sick and doesn’t hurt our environment and it’s really exciting to see the grassroots of that here at Cityserve.”

Welcome to the family

We’d like to welcome the following schools to the Cityserve family and look forward to working together to deliver tasty and nutritious meals to the children:-

● Titan St Georges Academy
● Titan Aston Academy

Cityserve Pay at the Schools & Academies Show - November 13/14

Looking for an easier way to manage catering and other payments? You can learn all about our exclusive cashless payment and pre-ordering system, Cityserve Pay, at the Schools and Academies Show at the NEC on November 13 & 14. Cityserve Pay is powered by FCA-regulated cashless payments provider sQuid and exclusively licensed for use by Cityserve. The system uses sQuid Dinner Money, which simplifies meal management, and sQuid SchoolPay, which manages trips, clubs, parent communication and school-related booking. Benefits to schools include cost savings of around £5,000 a year, improved efficiency and easier budgeting. Cityserve Pay is free to all Cityserve schools, who will not have to pay any upfront cost.

Dates for your diary:

  • National School Meals Week - this runs from November 11 to 15 and aims to showcase the benefits and value of school meals. Cityserve schools across the Midlands will be joining in.
  • Roast Dinner Day - Wednesday, November 13. Roast Dinner Day is the first Food for Life Get Together event and is a national day for schools, nurseries and communities to enjoy growing, cooking and eating together. We’re encouraging Cityserve schools to get involved, enjoying a roast dinner together and inviting others to join in too.
  • Children in Need - Friday, November 15. The nation will join in with Children In Need and Cityserve is no exception. Our schools will be joining in with a themed day to mark Children in Need, with special menus, events and other activities to help raise money.

About Cityserve

Cityserve is responsible for around 50,000 meals every school day, providing student-inspired menus focused on quality rather than cost. Our work over the past few years has seen us not only grow the business and return a sustained income to the council, but has earned us several national awards, including Best Catering Service Team for four years running at the APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence) Awards, as well as Best Service Team in the UK and, most recently, the award for Workforce Transformation at the ‘MJ’ (Management Journal) Local Government Achievement Awards - the industry ‘Oscars’.
Our motto is ‘all about the kids’ and we recognise that in the same way children are all different, so are schools. That’s why we’re always working on our services, to make sure everyone can take advantage of what we offer.

Don’t forget to check us out on social media. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin for all the latest across our schools.

Are you interested in what Cityserve can do for you? Contact us today to discuss your needs.