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Sunderland City Council's Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Skills, Councillor Louise Farthing said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Evolve 4 Solutions to implement its meals pre-order system in our schools.

“As well as ensuring every child is guaranteed their meal of choice, it will reduce food waste and safeguard children with special dietary needs.

“The system will make it easier for children to eat nutritious schools meals and help contribute to the health and wellbeing of children across Sunderland.”

She said that after searching for a system that was flexible and would work well throughout the council’s primary schools, the Evolve 4 Smart Catering System impressed the council’s school business manager and catering teams after they experienced it in action within schools in Trafford Council.

Ernie Dewhirst, managing director at Evolve 4 Solutions, added: “The cost-of-living crisis means most are feeling the pinch, from families and schools through to councils.

“Our software has been designed to keep children safe, which Natasha’s Law has shown us is more important than ever, as well as save valuable time and money for schools and councils by reducing operating costs by around 6% on average.

“We are glad to see that the product has been popular with the primary schools within Sunderland City Council and our teams will continue to support with the onboarding process with those schools who opt in to working with us.”

The system allows parents to order and pay for their child’s school meals digitally and makes the school catering process smoother for both parents and school staff. It not only saves schools money through ingredient management and staffing, but the triple lock system provides three points of protection for those with specific food allergies or requirements. 

“The triple lock system begins from the moment the meal is ordered on the system, through to it going to the school kitchen and right through to the counter collection – the software will flag up each child’s dietary requirements,” said Dewhirst.

“The software protects schools as it puts the ordering in the hands of parents and ensures no child is left with a meal they cannot eat or do not like.”