Manchester Fayre, the in-house school meal provider for Manchester City Council, has won a prestigious award in the industries Cost Sector Catering Award.

More than 800 people attended the awards ceremony in London where Manchester Fayre took the top award in the education category for their new school-dining concept ‘Fresh Fayre' and were finalists in the event catering category for their work catering for the World Squash Championships. The awards, which put local authorities against each other, are fiercely contested in the industry. 

Councillor Bernard Priest, Executive Member for Finance and Human Resources said: "It is a great honour to win this award. I'm delighted that the team has been recognised for all their hard work to help improve the health of school pupils throughout Manchester."

Fresh Fayre is the new concept in school meal dining in the city and offers pupils freshly prepared, healthy and nutritious school meals while providing more choice, and a self-service facility.  The new concept has been introduced to 80% of schools with an average uptake of school meals from between 13 and 15%.

Steve Southern, Head of Catering Services for Manchester City Council said: "We've always felt that the concept that we had designed was ground-breaking and would have a positive impact on the take-up of school meals. To receive this award in recognition from our peers is extremely encouraging. Manchester Fayre has always been innovative but this will give us even more confidence to continue to develop our services to support the health agenda and the aspirations of the young people of Manchester via the services we provide."