Case Study FCSI PROJECT SERIES
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Where the high street
In October we featured a revolutionary new dining concept being piloted in Dagenham featuring well-known brands. Eight months later, FCSI consultant on the project Niccola Boyd-Steveson talks about its huge success
hen pupils at Dagenham Park Church of England School started the new school year in September 2012, they found a brand new dining concept from which to get their lunch. The school was a pilot project to see if big name brands could be
served in schools and replicate the feel of the high street, while keeping children on site and eating healthy and nutritious food. Come the summer term and the project is going strong and has even been rolled out to two more secondary
56 June 2013
schools within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham as of Easter. Niccola Boyd-Stevenson, vice- chair of the Foodservice Consultants Society International (FCSI) and managing director of Panache Consultancy, was involved in the project from the start and notes that it has gradually been adapted over the months. Now, it is a concept that “has grown arms and legs” since it’s pilot launch in the fi rst half of term and has led to there being an increase in sales at Dagenham Park, greater uptake (of 8%) and a rise in spend per head.
“What it has identifi ed is that even though the schools have different demographics there is still a common thread in the popularity of the brands,” Niccola observes. “There is quite a lot
of customer loyalty to the brands. So, where we’ve had to introduce an alternative product because of availability, or just to trial it, there has been brand loyalty in such young children. If they don’t get their Chicago Town pizza but get something else, they want their Chicago Town back because that’s what they’re used to.” The project was conceived when the local authority identifi ed the need to modernise the secondary school offer and prepare children for dining at university and in further education. However, a lack of funding and need to comply with school nutrition standards meant that it couldn’t bring in just any brand.
“There was a lot of preliminary work needed, where they had to identify what sort of concepts children
were likely to latch onto,” Niccola recalls. A think tank workshop with students revealed that the most popular foods were pizza, pasta, spicy foods, vegetarian, hot subs and a Nandos-type offer. “We then looked at what brands were available to the schools that were also available on the high street. We didn’t want to put homespun brands in because that would defeat the purpose.” They went in search of suppliers that could offer products that comply with standards and would still be street aware for children. “Chicago Town pizza was going through a high level marketing campaign and there were lots of adverts on TV. Quorn were approached because they do a lot of recipe development using Quorn in different forms.” Other brands that
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