Making a difference through the Ka Ora, Ka Ako healthy lunches in schools programme.

11/08/2021

The Spotless team is privileged to join a growing community of providers delivering the government’s Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School Lunches. Four months ago, Major Phil Goff and our CEO Steve Killeen celebrated the commencement of our Ka Ora, Ka Ako service delivery from our production kitchen at North Harbour Stadium.

Today our team is providing healthy lunches for 26 kura (schools) across Tāmaki Makaurau, in the Henderson/Massey, Maungakiekie/Tamaki, and Orakei districts. To date, we have:

• Produced and delivered 8,000 lunches per day.
• By term 3 of the school year we delivered 1 million lunches.
• Employed 30 people at North Harbour Stadium and an additional 45 Catering Assistants at the schools, to deliver the programme.
• Helped address food insecurity for 8,000 tamariki kura every day.

Our partnership with Auckland Unlimited is an important part of our journey to be able to deliver the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme. We signed a commercial agreement late in 2020 for us to use the production sized kitchen at North Harbour to prepare the lunches. That summer we worked through the break to make a few minor changes to the kitchen so that it was fit for purpose.

The most rewarding part of our service is receiving heart felt messages from our tamariki like the following.

These messages remind us of who our end customers are and the small difference we are making. It is what keeps us motivated and inspired every day.

Our meals are carefully thought out and designed by our in-house dietitian. Our dietitian uses a holistic Rainbow Diet approach that uses the full spectrum of food groups to bring the best nutritional value to our lunches (kai karakara – colourful food). The basic premise of the Rainbow Diet is to use a wide range of micronutrients to increase resilience to biological stresses. Colourful food is also pleasing to look at, receive and eat! Having a dedicated dietitian onboard also ensures that our lunch menus are regularly updated and have a good variety of food groups. We have a dedicated supply chain who we work closely with to get the best variety of fresh produce for the lunches.

Our menus are inclusive, and we have specific menus for halal, gluten-free, vegetarian, and a range of other requirements such as accommodating specific food allergies. This inclusiveness ensures that no child misses out on lunch.

We ensure our waste is sustainably managed. Our partnership with Envirowaste enables us to divert 90% of our waste away from landfills. We work closely with Envirowaste and the Catering Assistants to ensure the school lunch waste is collected and transported to composting facilities.

We want to ensure that our service delivery is meeting the needs of the schools and students we serve. We use surveys and student focus groups to understand their lunch preferences. Our team are readily available for a chat over the phone, email or a face to face meeting. We take on feedback and use it to continuously improve and evolve our service delivery.

We look forward to continuing to serve our tamariki kura with the healthy lunches they need to be successful and happy learners.