School Kitchen: Chefs use real school kitchen in York to serve up tasty eco-friendly home delivery service

It’s not the kind of food you’d associate with your average school kitchen. But now a community-focused initiative, which partners with schools to use their kitchens in the evening and at weekends, aims to turn an underused asset into an eco-friendly home delivery takeaway service.

Carr Junior School, at Acomb, in York, will be the first in the country to host School Kitchen when it launches on March 11. Once school staff pack up for the day around 2.30pm, a head chef and team of seven will move in until 10 in the evening. It should provide some useful income for the school, through profit sharing, as well as helping teach kids through demos about food. They aim to grow some fruit and veg on the site and in future offer inexpensive and nutritious takeaways pupils can preorder to take home.

A former senior manager who worked for Tesco and Amazon, managing director David Nicholson said he’d become disillusioned: "I’d worked in food for many years, although always in retail rather than hospitality.

"I was increasingly feeling that the big corporations I was used to working for had lost their connection with their customers and the communities they were based in.

"That’s why I decided to leave and start my own socially-conscious food business which prioritised customers and communities, rather than focusing exclusively on returns for shareholders.”

York ticked the boxes as a medium-sized city, with two universities, a younger demographic and a thriving food scene.

School Kitchen’s delivery drivers will use electric mopeds and bikes to carry wares – in compostable packaging - out to homes. There’ll be no zero hour contracts, staff will be on a minimum number of hours and get paid at least £12 an hour.

They’ll be installing 80 solar panels over the central roof of the school to generate electricity.

David, who grew up in Thirsk, says he’s been on a huge, but very rewarding, learning curve since dreaming up the idea before the pandemic. He said: "I spoke to so many who loved the idea but just didn’t want to be first. South Bank were fantastic from the start. They thought it was a really good idea and have been very supportive. It’s an extra revenue stream that they can get extra teachers, equipment. That was a huge draw and it fitted in with their principles of sustainability.”

Head teacher Vicki Kerr said: “We are really looking forward to being part of this exciting new venture. Not only is the food delicious, but it will directly benefit the school and the local community.” There are plans to open a second School Kitchen at Millthorpe School in York and David is also talking to a trust in Leeds and Harrogate.