Dining

EAT WELL AT KENT COLLEGE

As all the pupils at Kent College know, our catering team are passionate about every aspect of food, where it comes from, how it’s cooked, and the wider implications of large-scale catering such as food waste and recycling. Every day our team of 15 chefs and 14 front-of-house staff are responsible for 1,000 meals at the Senior School and 200 meals at Kent College Junior School. 

All the food prepared at Kent College is cooked on the premises using local and trusted suppliers for meat, fish, fruit and vegetables. Not only does this policy help to support local businesses, it also guarantees freshness and quality, and helps to reduce the school’s overall carbon footprint. In addition, we are also able to source pork, lamb and mutton from the school’s own farm – last year we made 6,000 sausages from pork reared on the Kent College farm.

At the Junior School, all food is cooked on the premises, by Ady Smith our Chef and her team who use local and trusted suppliers for meat, fish, fruit and vegetables. In addition, Ady is also able to source pork, lamb and mutton from the school’s own farm. We cater for special diets such as gluten-free, or lactose-intolerant and Chef works closely with the nurses in the school’s Medical Centre to ensure that pupils with specific needs are well looked after. Snacks are provided for all pupils up to Year 1. Children in Years 2 to 6 are encouraged to bring in a sandwich or other healthy snack to eat at break times.

The catering team caters for special diets such as gluten-free, or lactose-intolerant and works closely with the staff in the school’s medical centre to ensure that pupils with specific needs are well looked after. The kitchens also provide a wide range of snacks enjoyed by the pupils at break time, either in the main dining hall or in the school’s cafe, 1885.

We understand how important food is for the boarding pupils in the school. Breakfast is varied from day to day to give pupils a choice of delicious cooked food, and there is always a choice at supper as well. Special occasions give the chefs the opportunity to cook up a feast – boarders’ Christmas lunch is always a big event with the menu designed around the boarders’ own requests. Last year it included home-made paella and pizza. Themed events including evenings based around Chinese or Italian food are also popular.

Pupils have considerable input into all aspects of food at Kent College. A pupil-led food committee meets once a term to discuss all aspects of the food at school, not just menus but also wider issues such as food waste, and use of plastics. All of the organic food scraps go from the kitchen to the school farm, cooking oil is recycled, and making food from scratch reduces waste generally. New initiatives are constantly under review, including composting schemes and reducing the use of plastic bottles.

Kent College have partnered with Holroyd Howe to manage all aspects of the catering service at the Senior school and the Junior school. Holroyd Howe is a market-leading, independent, creative British company that operates and specialises solely in the independent school market.

As a business committed to serving great freshly prepared home cooked food, Holroyd Howe has consistently maintained its growth and progression in the market, leading the way with innovation and creativity for pupil and staff dining. In doing so, we have remained true to the founding values and fundamental beliefs of the business from the moment Nick Howe founded the company 25 years ago.

Specifically, these operating principles are to produce fresh, nutritious, homemade food created by skilled chefs using natural and sustainable ingredients, served with care by committed trained teams, thus paving the way for established true and lasting partnerships with our clients. We are, however, far from just being a ‘school caterer’. Our core catering principles are driven by the highest level of food service experience and professionalism within the wider contract catering industry.

We set ourselves apart from our competition with an emphasis on flexibility and we are known for our fresh food philosophy, giving our chefs the freedom to use a range of local, natural ingredients from a wide choice of suppliers. Our operating practices are entirely bespoke to Kent College Canterbury. We commit to delivering a carefully tailored service for your pupils, staff and visitors to your community that represents high quality, great value and appropriateness for all areas and occasions.

FUN FACTS!