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“We throw away less and serve better food”
In Sweden about 80 tonnes of school food is wasted every day – but that is nothing Nordic International School Norrköping plays a significant part in. In the fall of 2020, the school implemented a new food system that has been cheered by the pupils and made the school more climate friendly.
All students at Nordic International School are given login details to an app called Mitt Käk where they once every week, can order their school food for the following week. Every day the pupils have six alternatives to choose from.
– There is always something that the pupils want to eat and they never have to leave the school restaurant feeling hungry, the school principal, Mr Mattias Liedholm, says.
According to him the food concept is a prerequisite for the students to perform in the classroom.
– My experience is that the students have more energy now than before we implemented the new food concept and that has brought many positives with it. They get a better ability to concentrate and the strength to focus on their studies.
When all students have placed their orders, they are sent to the school restaurant staff who then order the raw materials and plan the meals for the following week.
Mr Patrick Hallbäck is chief of restaurants for all Nordic International Schools and responsible for the food concept. According to him, reducing food waste has allowed the schools to serve better meals.
– Since we now know beforehand what the students are going to eat we avoid buying too much of anything. Instead we can use the money we save by being more cost efficient on buying better raw materials, Mr Hallbäck says and adds:
– This food concept is not just about allowing the students freedom and being more climate friendly, it is also about us now being able to serve food of high quality mostly made from scratch. We throw away less and serve better food.
School food is a prioritized area within Nordic International School.
– We constantly try to develop and are proud to offer the benefits we think that our new food concept brings, Mr Hallbäck says.