Does your school have an external caterer?

The FFL Served Here award held by your caterer must be the same level, or higher than, the Food for Life award that you apply for – so to apply for your Food for Life silver award will need to check that your caterer holds the silver or gold Food for Life Served Here award.

This does not apply to schools who have in-house catering arrangements.

On this page you'll find:

• Why to ask your Caterer to hold the FFL Served Here award?
• What can you do next?
• Practical advice on what to do if your caterer doesn't hold a FFL Served Here award
• Support that is available for your caterer

Why ask your Caterer to hold the FFL Served Here award?

• The new School Food Standards are mandatory in all maintained schools and new academies and free schools. Governors at these schools are responsible for ensuring these are being met. The FFL Served Here accreditation requires caterers to demonstrate compliance with those standards and verifies that caterers have these systems in place for meeting the standards.
• Caterers who are accredited by FFL Served Here are subject to an annual inspection so we – and you - can be sure that your school food meets our award quality standards.
• If your caterer holds the FFL Served Here award, you’ll automatically check off all the criteria in the food quality section of the same award level which means that you don’t need to gather evidence and documentation at school level.

What do we do next?

If your caterer holds the FFL Served Here award for your school let our awards team know and we’ll make sure the relevant criteria are checked off.

If your caterer holds FFL Served Here award, but not for your school, arrange a meeting with your Catering Manager to let them know that you are working towards your FFL award and would like them to extend the scope of their FFL Served Here award to cover your school meals. See the Caterer section below for advice on how they can do that.

If your caterer holds the FFL Served Here accreditation, but not at the award level you would like to achieve, the FFL Served Here team can support them to meet the higher level. This can be rolled out for all their schools, or for a selection of / individual schools. Please ask your caterer to get in touch with their local FFL Served Here Development Manager.

If your caterer does not hold a FFL Served Here award:

• If you are considering a change of caterer or renewing your contract, specify that they must hold Food for Life Served Here accreditation in the tender / contract.  We can provide some examples of how other schools have approached this.
• If you already have a caterer in place, arrange to meet with your catering manager and pass on information on the FFL Served Here award, which you’ll find here. You can also provide them with the information for caterers on this page.
• Get in touch with FFL and let us know the name of your caterer.  We can pass these details to our FFL Served Here team who will get in touch with your caterer and explain what they will need to do to achieve the award.
• Highlight benefits of the FFL Served Here award to them – you can find these here. Your caterer can also have a look at the FFL Served Here FAQs to answer any initial questions they may have.
• Agree timescales and award levels – Caterers should allow six weeks for the application process to accommodate the application inspection and any actions raised.
• Ask your caterer to let you know how they are getting on, for example: when their FFL Served Here inspection is due to take place, and any actions that arise after inspection. Their FFL Served Here accreditation will be awarded as soon as they have completed these actions – so ask them to keep you posted!
• Let them know how this will be part of your wider FFL work and highlight how this supports increased school meal take up. You can find more about that here.

What support is available to help your caterer achieve the FFL Served Here award?

If your caterer is already a FFL Served Here award holder but not for your school, it is very simple for them to extend their award to your school. All they need to do is to get in touch with their FFL Served Here Certification Officer, who will talk them through the process. They will need to supply their Awards Officer with the following information:

• A list of the schools they would like to add, and their locations (this may be just your school, or several schools)
• The date when they will be serving FFL Served Here menus to your school
• Any differences in the new menus.

If they are not sure who your Awards Officer is, they can email catering@foodforlife.org.uk

If your caterer is not a FFL Served Here award holder, ask them to get in touch with their regional FFL Served Here Development Manager and arrange a meeting. This meeting with help assess where they are now and what they may need to do to achieve a FFL Served Here accreditation. The Development Managers are there to provide caterers with practical advice and support as they work towards accreditation.

There are many benefits to holding the catering mark, not least that it verifies the meals served meet the new School Food Standards. You’ll find a list of these benefits here. You will also find a list of Frequently Asked Questions here.

Once your caterer has achieved their award, the FFL Served Here team will work with them to communicate their achievement to a wider audience, including local press.

If you need any further information or help, please contact our awards team on 0117 314 5180 or email ffl@foodforlife.org.uk