Crofton Junior School in West Yorkshire was facing a challenge where students were not selecting the hot meals that were introduced. The major challenge the school faced was introducing new dishes that their students genuinely enjoyed. The school contacted Dolce to improve the uptake of school meals, providing a healthy and tasty option that students would love, taking into consideration that the school children are aged seven to eleven.
With Dolce’s introduction of a new pasta dish, the school experienced a 5% increase in update of the new dish within the first term, a measurable increase to previous terms.
Crofton Junior School in West Yorkshire provides education to seven hundred and twenty students aged seven to eleven. This is a popular and oversubscribed school that covers a catchment area of 0.8 miles in radius. The school was experiencing issues when it came to mealtime engagement, with children having very limited excitement on the menu options, which results in an inconsistent uptake. As a result, the kitchen team never knew how many meals to make, due to the inconsistency, resulting in major food waste and money.
The school needed a reliable way to test new menu items before rolling them out, along with pupils being cautious when it came to unfamiliar dishes, which resulted in the lower uptake. Working with Dolce, the goal was to introduce a dish the students loved, while maintaining high nutritional standards.
Dolce’s approach was to introduce a star rating, a simple, child-friendly system where pupils can indicate if they liked, disliked, or loved the dish, providing real time data from the pupils themselves. The approach also included engaging the pupils to trial new versions of the pasta dish, giving direct feedback. This approach encouraged students to take ownership of the menu. Based on the real-time data, Dolce was able to adjust the sauce seasoning, pasta shape, along with presentation, meeting the pupils preferences.
As with all Dolce meals, the pasta dish was created to ensure it provides the highest level of nutrition and flavour.
With the introduction of the new pasta dish, Croft Junior School saw an increase in uptake of five percent in the first term. The pasta was a high-demand option with a knock-on effect in participation, increasing the uptake of other meals. The children felt their opinions mattered, parents felt more confident in the meals offered, while teachers noticed fewer returned plates.
Croft Junior School partnering with Dolce has had an excellent result with parent survey responses showing that the quality of meals improved to a good rating year on year, with parents having greater confidence in the quality, choice, and variety of dishes, supporting healthy eating behaviours. Our method worked because of child-led menu development, data-driven adjustments that improved the success of the new pasta dish with measurable improvements. The meal quality at the school has improved from good to very good, a great achievement.
While this may appear a small step, it offered tangible results within the first term. Are you a school that is struggling to improve student meals and meal engagement? Why not contact Dolce today to explore our collaborative menu development methods. Let us do the same for your school today. Contact us now on 01942 707709.
