Who is Chartwells? Free school meals image “doesn’t reflect” hamper says catering company!

Photo credit should read XAVIER LEOTY/AFP via Getty Images

Chartwells catering company has come under fire for the free school meals supplied on Twitter. Read on to find out more about the company and their response to the ordeal.

The free school meals went viral on January 11th, after Twitter user @roadsidemum posted an image of the hamper she received in replacement of vouchers over the national lockdown. The hamper included: a loaf of bread, a bag of pasta, one can of baked beans, cheese slices, three apples, two carrots, one tomato, two baked potatoes, two bananas, two malt loaf snacks and three Frubes.

The image soon went viral and was met with reactions of shock and disappointment. The hampers are provided as a replacement for free school meals and were given instead of £30 worth of vouchers. The idea behind the hamper is so that schools can still be somewhat connected with families over the lockdown.

Who is Chartwells?

Chartwells is a catering company that was privately contracted by the Department of Education to provide lunch replacement hampers. However, they are among a range of different companies enlisted to provide schools with food.

Its sister company, Chartwells Independent, provides food for private schools, which many people online have pointed out is starkly different from the hampers, with private schools receiving the likes of banana leaf-wrapped-salmon and patisserie. Journalist Kate Pasola pointed out on Twitter that although the private school meals are covered in fees, “Chartwells UK belongs to a parent group which can choose where it profits.”

The catering company’s response to the free school meal

Chartwells have responded to the free school meal image on Twitter, explaining that their hampers follow DfE specifications, but that the hamper shown doesn’t meet their requirements. However, they suggest that this is an operational issue rather than the company choosing to offer that amount of food.

In a statement, a spokesperson said:

“We take our responsibility to provide children with access to nutritious food very seriously. We have worked hard to produce food hampers at incredibly short notice during these challenging times. Our hampers follow the DofE specifications and contain a variety of ingredients to support families in providing meals throughout the week. In the majority of instances, we have received positive feedback. 

“In this instance, the image on Twitter falls short of our hamper specification and we are keen to investigate with the relevant school so we can address any operational issues that may have arisen.”

Through the means of Marcus Rashford, who had a meeting with Chartwells this morning, these points were reiterated, and they added that they supply the food to the schools who then decide how to distribute it.

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