• Setting short to long-term goals tailored to your school’s needs 

• Developing actionable plans for sustainable improvement 

• We manage the full tendering process for catering services, compliant to the Procurement Act 2023, ensuring full compliance

• Working to the principles of Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) to help schools identify the most suitable catering partner.

• We do all the work, you make all the key decisions

• Our online procurement portal makes the process simple, transparent, and sustainable

• Providing a collaborative, hands-on approach 

• Working alongside your team to deliver continuous improvement 

• We continue to work alongside schools and catering teams to support consistent service delivery and ongoing operational improvement.

• Refreshing menus to meet nutritional standards and student preferences 

• Promoting variety, appeal, and balance in meal offerings

• Ensuring full compliance with allergen regulations 

• Supporting staff training and safe food handling procedures
  
  Preparing for the new school allergy safety requirements? Read our guide to Benedict’s Law and what schools and trusts should be reviewing before September 2026. 

• Identifying ways to boost productivity and streamline kitchen workflows 

• Offering practical guidance on staffing, equipment, and processes 

• Understanding the financial performance of your catering service

• Comparing costs and value with similar schools or services 

We offer a range of supportive training sessions, from cleaning techniques and kitchen craft skills to supervision, audits, compliance, and health & safety. Whether it’s for frontline staff or managers, our training helps build skills and confidence across your team.

A school catering consultant provides independent advice and practical support to help schools and multi-academy trusts improve their catering provision. This can include reviewing existing services and contracts, benchmarking costs and performance, supporting catering tenders and procurement, improving menus and compliance, and helping schools manage supplier performance. As an independent consultant, ACE provides impartial advice based on the needs of the school or trust rather than representing a catering provider.

A school may benefit from using a catering consultant when reviewing an existing service, approaching the end of a catering contract, preparing for a new tender or experiencing concerns around cost, quality, compliance or supplier performance. Independent advice can also be valuable when considering changes to the catering model, helping schools and multi-academy trusts understand their options and make informed decisions based on their operational and financial needs.

An independent school catering consultant provides impartial advice without a commercial interest in which catering provider a school or multi-academy trust chooses. This means recommendations can be based solely on the school’s priorities, from quality, compliance and pupil needs to cost and operational performance. ACE can objectively assess existing provision, challenge suppliers where necessary and help schools make informed decisions about their catering service.