How to change your child's school catering provider: a guide for parents

It's one of the most repeated conversations in canteen committees: the food isn't quite winning anyone over, families are complaining, and nobody's sure where to start. This guide gathers what we've learned helping parents' associations (AFA, in Catalonia) work through exactly that.

First: who actually decides

It depends on who holds the contract, and there's more variation here than you'd think.

• If the AFA runs it, the decision is yours. You can end the agreement and hire whoever you want, within the agreed notice period.
• If the school runs it, the decision belongs to the head teacher and the school council, where the AFA has a seat and a vote.
• If the local council or district runs it through public tender, you can't switch provider on your own, but you can influence the terms of the next tender. This route is slower and more political.

Before anything else, work out which of the three you're in. A lot of energy gets wasted arguing over a decision that isn't actually yours to make.

When the switch can happen

The natural window is the end of the school year, with the decision made around the second term. Switching mid-year is possible but wears everyone down: supervision, the kitchen and communication with families all have to be reorganised while school is still running.

Budget four to six months from opening the discussion to the new provider serving its first lunch. That sounds like a lot. It isn't.

Diagnose first, look for alternatives second

A common mistake is shopping for a new provider before knowing what's actually wrong. Put it in writing:

• Review three straight months of menus, not just one week.
• Count how many times a week there's a plant-protein main course. Barcelona's Public Health Agency found that two out of three canteens offered none at all.
• Check how many dishes are pre-cooked or chilled-and-reheated.
• Ask where the food is actually cooked. On-site cooking and food trucked in from elsewhere are not the same thing.
• Ask the children. They're usually far more precise than we expect.

That gives you a document you can use with the head teacher, with families and with candidate providers. Without it, everything stays a matter of opinion.

Eight questions to ask every provider

The answers to these eight tell you more than any brochure:

• Where exactly is the food cooked, and can we go and see it?
• What percentage of the produce is sustainable, and where does the rest come from?
• Can you give us the names of the farmers you work with?
• How many dishes on the menu are pre-cooked or arrive already made?
• How do you handle a serious allergy: is there a written protocol and separate utensils?
• What's your supervision ratio, and what training does the team have?
• What happens to the food left over each day?
• Is there any flexibility on price for families in difficult situations?

Notice which answers are specific and which are generic. A provider who can't name a single farmer is probably buying from a large distributor, which is legitimate, but it isn't what they're implying they sell.

What the tender brief should say

If you're writing the terms, be specific. "Quality produce" commits a provider to nothing.

• A minimum percentage of sustainable produce, checkable against invoices.
• An explicit ban or cap on pre-cooked food.
• Weekly frequencies by food group, following the Generalitat's (the Catalan government's) recommendations.
• A monthly menu published with suggestions for dinner at home.
• A maximum ratio of children per supervisor.
• Social clauses if you want to favour co-operatives or non-profits.

Price, with the context alongside it

Sustainable food cooked to order the same day costs more than a chilled, mass-produced meal. That's just how it is. The useful question isn't "how much" but "what does that price actually include": if one quote is 15% cheaper but the produce comes from further away and supervision ratios are higher, you're not comparing like with like.

Always ask for the price broken down between the meal and supervision. Many providers bundle them together, and that's exactly where the differences get hidden.

How to explain it to families

Switching provider unsettles people, especially if the price goes up. What works best is transparency, well in advance: share the written diagnosis, invite families to a session with the candidate provider, and let them ask questions directly.

And be honest about one thing: there will be complaints in the first few weeks. Children used to one kind of food need time to adjust. If you warn people beforehand, those complaints get read as a phase, not a failure.