Celebrity Chefs Are Reinventing School Dinners For This Social Enterprise

School Kitchen is a food service enterprise with a difference. Launched earlier this year in York, the social enterprise partners with local schools to use their kitchens, with a portion of the revenue going towards the school. Up until recently, there has been a focus on delivery – but a soon-to-open London location will offer dine-in services too, with a menu created by a handful of celebrity chefs.

Social Enterprise School Kitchen Has Launched A New Site

Opening its doors on 25 October is SK Chiswick, located in the Cricket Pavilion at the Latymer Upper School Sports Grounds. It will offer both dine-in and takeaway services, with a share of the funds going towards the Latymer Foundation for projects supporting local Hounslow schools and community education schemes.

The restaurant will offer an array of cuisines, from Sri Lankan to Mexican, alongside Sunday brunch and lunch, plus the new School Dinners menu. The latter has been curated by a line-up of top culinary figures: Matt Tebbutt, Mitch Tonks, Nadiya Hussain, Omar Allibhoy, Richard Corrigan, Tommy Banks, and Will Lockwood. There’s a focus on gourmet twists on nostalgic dishes designed to bring diners back to their school days, from fish pie to beef hash and roast hogget meatballs, alongside desserts including a cardamom rice pudding, and apple pie. 

Better still, it’s for a good cause: proceeds from the new menu will go towards funding for free school breakfasts for children at School Kitchen partner schools, including Carr Junior School in York and the rest of the South Bank Multi Academy Trust. 

York diners, meanwhile, will have the chance to enjoy these dishes delivered straight to their door, and soon it will be served at the new locations School Kitchen has in the pipeline.

David Nicholson, CEO and Founder of School Kitchen, said: ‘We are incredibly excited to launch School Kitchen in London after the success and positive feedback from our flagship York location at Carr Junior School. Having a dine-in service gives even more opportunities for people to enjoy the good food and interact with the good team we have.’

School Kitchen was created as a way of supporting local communities through food. Alongside its dine-in and takeaway services, the initiative runs free cookery demonstrations for pupils, and runs an apprenticeship scheme for school leavers in the area. Steps are taken to ensure carbon emissions are kept low, with solar panels installed at schools to cover energy usage, bicycles and electric mopeds used for deliveries, and compostable packaging utilised across the board.

The organisation also helps set up kitchen gardens at partners schools, allowing them to grow their own ingredients and teach children about where food comes from.

VISIT:

Opening hours are Monday to Friday 6 – 11pm, Saturday 12 – 11pm, and Sunday 9am – 4pm. Initially, Monday and Tuesday will be bar only, and the restaurant will only be open for takeaways on Saturday. Find it at Main Pavilion, Latymer Sports Grounds, Hartington Road, London W4 3AN. schoolkitchen.com