‘The Kitcheneers’ compelling proposition and brand design helped secure contracts for school caterer AiP while improving student nutrition, with 35% more vegetables now served.
School caterers face a huge challenge: how to feed kids well when margins are so tightly squeezed. Fixed prices, rising costs and weak demand combine in a vicious cycle, leading to less appetising meals, greater wastage, less investment and poorer quality food.
In this complex landscape, Midlands-based AiP Schools (UK&I) was struggling to win and hold onto school contracts with their ‘Feed Me’ brand and engaged Without to help them stand out from the catering crowd. Fundamentally and innovatively re-imagining the brand proposition, from mission and values to products sold, to how it looks and customer experience, an appealing, healthy offer was created feeding more kids, more appetising food.
Designed for Gen Z and Alpha attitudes, ‘The Kitcheneers’ is about choice and experimentation – a ‘modular’ approach enabling students to personalise dishes according to taste, allergies and beliefs. This inspired everything from name, identity and tone of voice and the nutritious, customisable food offer and scalable brand asset kit are easily and eye-catchingly transforming catering spaces, helping AiP retain clients, while also winning new and bigger contracts with large academy trusts.
Their average contract value has soared +286% and crucially more students are also ordering the meals. Sales revenue is up 10.8% on average in schools, over double the 5% target, and uptake of free school meals has jumped 9.3%.
