CORDIA BRINGS FIRST EXTERNAL UNIT TO HOLYROOD SECONDARY SCHOOL

CORDIA, Glasgow's school catering provider, has officially launched the city's first external custom-built food kiosk at Holyrood Secondary School.

The unit, named the Holyrood Hut, has been a big hit with pupils since the beginning of he new term and was today officially opened at the south side secondary school by Cordia Chair, Councillor Jim Mackecknie.

He was joined by head teacher Tom McDonald and hungry pupils from Europe's biggest secondary school who now use the Holyrood Hut regularly.

The Holyrood Hut features a full range of hot and cold food which meet Scottish Government legislation on nutrition and offers pupils greater choice in the drinks and snacks they can buy within the school grounds.

It is hoped the introduction of the kiosk-style unit will not only offer healthier food alternatives to high street snack vans, fast food outlets and chip shops but helps encourage pupils to stay within the school premises during their breaks.

Cordia's operations Manager, Julia McCreadie, said "The idea for he unit was generated during a consultation with the school and we are delighted that the Holyrood Hut has been such a hit. It is just one of many new initiatives Cordia has introduced in recent years to make Fuel Zone school catering more appealing to Glasgow's secondary schools while ensuring the food provided is both nutritious and popular. Holyrood Hut not only gives the pupils greater choice in terms of what they buy and where they eat it, it also encourages pupils to stay within the school grounds."

The Holyrood Hut is just one of a number of initiatives launched by Cordia to introduce a more flexible approach to Fuel Zone school catering.

All of Glasgow's 30 secondary schools have now introduced one or more new catering concepts following consultation with pupils. These include mobile counters, snack and drink "vendbanks" and foxed coffee bars.

The changes have been sparked up to 20% sales increase within some school's and given pupils an alternative to leaving school grounds to buy food.

The catering concepts work as follows:

Mobile units allow Fuel Zone staff to offer a selection of freshly prepared soups, sandwiches, wraps, baguettes; tubs of pasta, rice and salad; fruit, yoghurt's and chilled drinks foods away from the main counter area, reducing queues and providing a quick way for pupils to grab a snack as they enter or leave the school buildings.

The vendbank concept sees a bank of healthy snack and drink machines offering a wider choice to pupils.

Finally, fixed coffee bars bring a new level of sophistication to Fuel Zone offering, with pupils now enjoying hot chocolate, latte, cappuccino, mocha and espresso coffees, served to them by a member of the Fuel Zone team.

Tom McDonald, head teacher at Holyrood Secondary school, said "The Holyrood Hut has been a great success since the beginning of term, especially with the younger pupils. It has proved to be the ideal incentive to encourage them to stay in the school grounds during breaks and lunch time. New playground games are also being introduced so youngsters are eating healthily and taking exercise at the same time. Glasgow is well known for finding creative and innovative solutions that encourage healthy eating habits among all our young people and I'm happy to support any new developments in this area."