Subject to Parliamentary approval, the updated School Food Standards will take effect from September 2027.

For those responsible for catering, procurement and operations, the priority now is to understand what the new standards will mean for menus, products, suppliers and wider catering arrangements.

But this is not just a compliance exercise.

If schools are already reviewing what they buy, how they buy it and whether current suppliers can meet future requirements, there is an opportunity to ask a broader question:

Are our current food and catering arrangements still delivering the best outcome for our budget, our teams and our pupils?

Why now is the right time to review

The Department for Education is encouraging schools to start preparing now, including reviewing existing food and catering contracts, speaking with caterers and factoring the new standards into future procurement.

Changes to menus can have wider implications for product availability, suppliers, pricing and the overall catering model.

For MATs, there is an added layer of complexity. Different schools may be buying in different ways, using different suppliers or operating with varying levels of visibility over spend.

That makes September 2027 a useful point to look beyond the immediate requirements and consider whether the current model is still fit for purpose.

Are you paying the right price? Do you have enough visibility across schools? Are suppliers performing consistently? Can you access the right products as requirements change?

Those are commercial questions as much as compliance ones.

A different way to buy food and drink

In a recent Department for Education blog on preparing for the new School Food Standards, the Government Commercial Agency’s Buying Better Food and Drink framework (RM6279) is included among the DfE-approved food and catering buying routes available to schools. Entegra delivers the framework in partnership with GCA, supported by the AgileChain technology platform.

What makes the framework different is the role Entegra plays.

Entegra is a group purchasing organisation, or GPO. Rather than giving schools a list of suppliers and leaving them to run their own competition, we undertake the procurement activity on their behalf.

That means sourcing products, assessing suppliers, negotiating arrangements and helping build a supply chain around the school’s requirements.

Buying through the framework is by direct award, so there is no separate tender or mini competition for the school to run for the approved options.

For procurement and operational teams already managing competing priorities, that can remove a significant amount of work.

More flexibility as requirements change

The journey to September 2027 will not necessarily be linear. Menus may change. New products may be needed. Schools may want to work with different suppliers.

Buying Better Food and Drink has been designed to accommodate that.

New suppliers can be added during the life of the framework rather than the supply base being fixed at the outset. Schools can also nominate suppliers or products they would like to buy, and Entegra can explore how to make them available where they meet the framework requirements.

That flexibility opens the door to a broader mix of national, regional, specialist and SME suppliers. It also gives schools more room to adapt as their needs evolve.

Better visibility, better decisions

Access to suppliers is only one part of the picture. AgileChain provides product and supply-chain information at the point of ordering, while Central Billing helps simplify payments.

Reporting can also cover areas such as spend, usage trends, supplier performance, savings opportunities and sustainability data where available.

For MATs, this can provide a clearer view across individual schools or the whole trust. That matters because better decisions are difficult to make without good information.

If you can see where money is being spent, how suppliers are performing and where opportunities exist, conversations about value become much more meaningful.

Value is about more than price

Cost will always matter, particularly with school budgets under pressure. However, the cheapest product is not always the one that delivers the best overall outcome.

A stronger procurement model should balance price with quality, availability, service, resilience and the wider objectives of the school or trust.

That can include reducing food miles and waste, supporting local and SME suppliers, improving sustainability performance and creating wider social value.

And where savings are achieved, the impact can extend beyond the catering budget. For example, we recently supported a multi-academy trust that wanted to bring its catering provision in-house. The transition was completed in just six weeks, reducing costs by 46%.

The trust reinvested those savings into kitchen upgrades and pupil enrichment activities. That is a much more useful measure of value than simply asking whether the price per case is lower.

Support beyond the procurement decision

Another important distinction is what happens once the supply arrangement is in place. Entegra continues to support schools and suppliers throughout the relationship.

That includes ongoing supply-chain management, reporting and recommendations around areas such as efficiency, supplier performance, sustainability and social impact.

Requirements will continue to change after September 2027. Products will evolve, pricing will move and supplier performance will vary.

The ability to keep reviewing and improving the arrangement is therefore just as important as getting the initial procurement decision right.

What should schools be aiming for?

By September 2027, success should mean more than simply being compliant.

It should mean having a food and catering model that gives you:

• Confidence that the right products are available
• Greater control over spend and supplier performance
• Flexibility as requirements change
• Less procurement burden for internal teams
• Better visibility across schools or sites
• Wider value through sustainability, social value and supplier diversity

The new School Food Standards provide the deadline. The opportunity is to use that deadline to build a stronger, more flexible and better-value approach to food procurement for the years that follow.

Start the conversation

If you are beginning to review what the new School Food Standards mean for your school or trust, we would be happy to talk.

In an initial 30-minute conversation, we can discuss your current approach, any challenges you are anticipating, explain how Buying Better Food and Drink works and share examples of how other schools and trusts have used the framework.

[Talk to Entegra about preparing for the new School Food Standards]

[Read the DfE blog on the new School Food Standards and register for their webinar]