Policy: Kitchen & Catering Management

In this policy, we review our approach to catering and the EHO requirements that nursery chefs have for FSA compliance

Kitchen Management Policy & Procedure

Menu Planning & Rotation

• Menus will rotate monthly for a season (4 months) and will reflect the geographic focus that the children are investigating in their academic programming
• Menus will then change each term (Spring, Summer & Autumn) as per the below schedule:

Spring	January Arctic & Polar Regions	February China & East Asia	March France & Francophone World	April Spain & Italy and the southern med
Summer	May India & the Subcontinent	June Russia & Eastern Europe	July Sub-Saharan & the Horn of Africa	August Australasia & Pacific Rim
Autumn / Winter	September Middle East & North Africa	October North America & Canada	November Central & South America	December Northern Europe & The UK

(see Westminster and City)

• Once completed, Menus must be sent to Marketing for designing on the slack channel #design, they must be PDF’d and saved on the Google Drive chronologically in the Food folder and uploaded by business management to the relevant folder in the hubspot>Files>[Westminster / City / Canada Water / School] Files>Menus for marketing to use in social media outreach and promotion
• Menu planning should focus on minimising wastage and maximising re-use: chef should consider stews and casseroles with leftovers that are health, nutritious and cost-efficient

Food Hygiene Compliance

• Chefs are responsible for the delivery of all kitchen compliance under EHO and Food Standards guidelines
• Chefs are responsible for downloading and filling out the Safer Food Better Business guidance from BambooHR>Files>Kitchen Files and / or from the Food Standards Agency website, filling out the methods statement for the manager to retain in hard copy format in the health and safety folder in the school's office, and to manage and maintain accurate records of:
  • Fridge Freezer temperature checks (weekly)
  • Cleaning records (weekly)
  • Food temperature logs (daily) - both for food prepared and served on site and food distributed to partner branches (see transporting food policy)
  • Supplier logs from food distribution partners
  • Customer allergy schedules 
  • Menu plans, along with allergens
  • Supplier/Groceries risk Assessment
• Chefs are responsible for delivering cleaning of their kitchen to standard and in line with the 4 Cs of the FSA's guidance online. Multiuse cloths are not permitted - blue paper rolls will be used from a dispensary in line with best practice

Many of these logs will be contained within Google Forms - an online check that will automatically update the online records kept in a Google Spreadsheet in the corresponding folder on the School's Google Drive under EHO records

• Managers are responsible for reviewing the completed policy guidance and ensuring that the manager can evidence compliance through regular checks
• Chefs are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of all facilities within the kitchen and will report to the school manager on broken/ defective equipment for immediate replacement to be in line with compliance

Stock Ordering & Procurement:

• Chef should use the ingredient lists mapped against his menu planning to order food on a rotational cycle, sensitive to the above point on minimising wastage and to reflect whatever storage challenges we have
• Chef will be responsible for setting up accounts with known suppliers with a company credit card, the login details for which chef will store in the below schedule:
• Chef has £3/head / day for all food supply and will liaise with the finance manager on a monthly basis regarding budget performance on food supply materials 

Allergy Control & Reporting to Chef:

• Chefs will be given a managerial access to EY Man upon induction and trained in how to download allergy reports and children's registers
• The chef will upload those pdf copies of allergies and children's registers into the drive>Health & Safety>EHO>Allergy // Children's registers on a weekly basis to be inline with our record-keeping procedures.
• The manager of the school will check this on a weekly basis and liaise with chef on children's numbers and allergies during new family induction and onboarding

Supply Chain & Menu Management

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Supply 2	Supply 1			Supply 2
		Delivery for Supply 2		Delivery for Supply 1

• Given the storage limitations in our kitchen, the business needs to maintain a two weekly delivery model to ensure that there is sufficient storage for:
• Cooked food that is to be prepped the day before (lunch and dinner) and cooled ready for transport the subsequent day
• Raw ingredients that require refrigeration and labelling in line with our food & hygiene policy
• Stock ordering needs to be mapped against a) the menu plan for the week and b) the numbers of children in the setting to calculate the ordering from agreed suppliers. This needs to be done with the finance@hatching-dragons.com  

Delivering Food:

• The City Chef will be responsible in preparing and transporting the  food to the Canada water nursery . These will  arrive in insulated containers no later than 1130 am every day.Chef will deliver food in insulated containers only
• The Canada Water Setting will be responsible for their own snacks and breakfast - 
• The Canada Water setting will also be responsible for ensuring delivered food is reheated to optimum temperature in line with Health & Safety guidance (63 degrees for reheated food) and for filling out the standard Health & Safety food recording template.
• The Dinner will be delivered to the Canada Water setting alongside the lunch , the dinner will be placed in the cooling fridge to cool the food

Receiving Deliveries:

• Food suppliers will be delivered on a Friday afternoon in order to ensure that supplies are moved through the setting on the day when there are the least number of children in the nursery.
• The chef at Westminster Nursery and City Nursery will ensure the Groceries Risk Assessment is completed. This will be done using google forms. The Canada Water manager/deputy manager will complete the groceries risk assessment for the snacks.

Health & Safety:

• Staff will not be allowed access to the kitchen - managers must communicate that the kitchen is now out of bounds (as is the fridge and all assets within the kitchen space). Management may buy staff a small microwave and fridge for the staff room
• Chef will be solely responsible for the maintenance of the kitchen and all health and safety requirements there in (see here for all guidance)
• Fridge Freezer checks: must be done daily using the google form. 
• Food Temperature checks: must also be done daily using the google form.

• Cleaning Records: Full kitchen cleaning records must also be maintained, these are done on a daily basis using the google form template.

• Cross Contamination: Full adherence to H&S guidance on restricting cross contamination risk must be evidenced

• Placemats - colour coded for clarity on allergies and presented to chef in advance (on weekly basis) all allergy schedules in the school