Top Marks for Derbyshire School Snack Takeover

According to Biteback’s Quick, Cheap and Profitable report, around 60% of secondary school students buy grab-and-go food at least once a week, often instead of a more nutritious main meal, and only one in three felt it left them with enough energy to concentrate in lessons. It doesn’t have to be this way.

A snack takeover is exactly what it sounds like: a chance for a school kitchen to temporarily replace the usual snack offer with something better, test new ideas with students, and see what lands. Done well, it’s not just a one-day event, it’s a conversation starter about what school food could look like every day.

That’s what we set out to do at Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School in Derbyshire. Our chef trainers worked alongside the school’s kitchen team to design a carefully built snack offer: a selection of hand-held options that students could try, respond to, and shape. Their feedback, gathered through a focus group and questionnaire, gave everyone plenty to work with.

The Food:

The menu was designed to feel familiar enough to appeal to pupils, but also a genuine step up in quality. Students could choose from a margherita pizza, a Nando’s-style chicken option, and homemade cannellini beans in a rich tomato sauce with a sausage crumb that put paid to any “beige food” assumptions. All were served in smart packaging students could eat on the go. Alongside the hot options, the team offered pickled cucumber and fresh fruit, with some ingredients that don’t traditionally make it onto a secondary school snack menu. Underpinning everything was the locally baked bread from the School of Artisan Food, a quality upgrade that doesn’t come with a hefty price tag. The bread cost 30p, the chicken filling just 10p, meaning a freshly made, restaurant-style snack for 40p*.

*food cost only.

The Kitchen Team:

None of this happens without the people behind the hatch. The Dronfield kitchen team arrived at 7am to prepare for the takeover, and by 10:15 the new menu was ready to serve. What stood out all day was their enthusiasm, the team were taking photos of their own dishes, genuinely proud of what they’d made and keen to build on it. That kind of ownership is the difference between a one-off event and a menu that actually sticks.

What Students Thought:

The margherita was the runaway favourite. Students praised the quality of the ingredients and the flavour; one called it simply “a perfect margherita pizza.” The Nando’s-style chicken came a close second, followed by the sausage and bean.

The packaging got noticed too. Students appreciated that the presentation felt like a step up – “bougie” and “fancy” were the words they reached for – and were quick to point out practical improvements too, like cheese no longer soaking through the packaging and causing sticky fingers.

Perhaps most encouragingly, the day gave students a chance to try things they’d never had before. Several had never eaten cannellini beans and enjoyed them. Some were open to the pickled vegetables. One vegetarian student said they’d happily try tofu. Getting secondary school students to engage positively with unfamiliar ingredients, in a canteen setting, is exactly what this kind of work is designed to achieve.

Students also flagged that they’d like fruit to be more visible and accessible at snack time, a simple change that could make a real difference.

The Students’ Ideas:

This kind of work isn’t something Chefs in Schools does to schools, it’s done with them. Putting students at the centre of the process, from designing the offer to capturing honest feedback, means the changes that follow are ones the school community has already bought into.

Students came away with ideas of their own: cheesy garlic bread, pulled pork baguettes, more fresh ingredients and vegetables. The conversation about what a school kitchen can offer when it’s supported, skilled up, and empowered to try new things is now well underway at Dronfield Henry Fanshawe.

Want to find out more about how Chefs in Schools works with schools? Get in touch.