School Kitchen takeaway restaurants at Carr Junior expansion bid

David Nicholson launched School Kitchen in March after hitting on the idea of using facilities out-of-hours on evenings and weekends.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) he not only aimed to serve good food but help schools financially, teach children about cooking and provide decent standards for staff.
School Kitchen runs seven takeaway restaurants from Carr Junior School, in Acomb, and it has since branched out to Chiswick, West London.

Customers order from School Kitchen’s website or from Deliveroo and they can chose from Spanish, Italian, Sri Lankan, Thai and Mexican dishes or a combination of them.

A fresh take on classic British school dinners is also on offer in a menu designed with the help of celebrity chefs including Matt Tebbutt and Nadia Hussain.

There are plans for the business to expand into schools in Leeds and Sheffield, along with hopes of launching a Harrogate offering next year.

The business could be set to expand into York’s Millthorpe School in the South Bank area, subject to getting planning permission.

Mr Nicholson, who originally conceived the idea before the coronavirus pandemic, launched the business with help from York Council Business Growth Manager Brian Littlejohn.

He also received help from Steven Lydiatt, of business and development specialist Momentic’s Start and Grow York programme.

School Kitchen runs seven takeaway restaurants from Carr Junior School (Image: Supplied) Mr Nicholson said he wanted to launch the business because of his love of food and got the idea from the rise of so-called ghost or dark kitchens.

The business owner said: “There was a growing number of those kitchens where food is prepared out of places like shipping containers and then delivered to customers.

“I wanted to do something like that, but in a way that would have a positive impact on the community, so I came up with the idea of School Kitchen.

“The idea was to use kitchens that already existed, not just because of the cost but also for environmental reasons.

“Schools only use their kitchens at lunchtimes, but if we could use them when they finish then the schools could share some of the revenue too which would help with their funding.

“We’ve also done cookery demonstrations for the kids and provided food for free breakfasts.

“We do all the deliveries ourselves on bikes or electric mopeds and all our packaging is compostable.

“Everyone who works for us is a proper employee, we don’t have anyone on a zero-hours contract and we pay them a living wage.

“We have chefs who specialise in making different things and there’s a mix of experience, some have worked in the industry for years and others are just starting out.

“All the profits raised from the School Dinners go to funding free breakfast clubs.”

Mr Nicholson said that despite interest from schools in the idea, getting it off the ground was not straightforward.

He said: “It took a long time for us to find one that was willing to be the first.

“There were worries about safeguarding and cross-contamination of food for people with allergies and we also had to get planning permission.

“We’re now looking at setting up cookery programmes and an apprenticeship scheme.

“If we are able to expand into Millthorpe School then we’d like to take on pupils who are leaving and train them up.

“We’d also like to do more cooking clubs in schools, we’ve done some where we took the kids out and showed them where their food’s coming from before making it, we’re working with schools to look at doing that in a more comprehensive way.”

Oliver Johnson, a director at the Excel Learning Trust which includes the Carr Junior School, said pupils had had help to grow vegetables as part of School Kitchen’s educational efforts.

The estates director added the pupils had then harvested produce including basil, broccoli, chillies, courgettes, lettuce, onions and potatoes and used them to make food of their own.

Mr Johnson said: “The team provides cooking and gardening classes showing the children where their food comes from.

“To mark the launch of Mercurio, School Kitchen’s pizza restaurant venture, the children were taught about the origins of pizza, harvested some of the produce from the garden and then made, and ate, pizzas.

“It’s wonderful to see School Kitchen flourishing and making such productive use of our high-quality kitchen facilities outside of school hours.

“Not only does this partnership generate a modest income for our Trust, but it has also created additional benefits for our school community since the company began operating from Carr Junior School.”