2024 The Sun's Catering Team Champions Chef Hugo & team, Reach Academy, London
Chef Hugo and the team know exactly how to inspire the next generation to eat healthily, ensuring they thrive in school.
Reach Academy teaches kids from ages 2-18 – and they all eat the same food, staff included! And it’s no wonder when you see the delicious, balanced meals being served up; all home-cooked and made with love.
The team starts early to make hot breakfasts for the kids, and make all their hot dishes from scratch, such as Moroccan chicken stew with cucumber salad; vegan cottage pie with roast veg, and chicken lasagne with salad. No request is too much for Chef Hugo, who makes sure special dietary requirements are catered for, meeting with parents to tailor menus – even sharing recipes with them on request! Special dishes are cooked for national holidays, and staff are treated to freshly baked pastries every Friday.
But food is also a huge part of the school culture. The children serve up the lunches family-style, sharing out the food between them, before sitting down with the teachers. Plus, all mealtimes start with five minutes of mindfulness, where they think about what they’re eating before tucking in.
Chef Hugo and the team are truly central to the school, ensuring the children are getting the vital foundation that is good nutrition, so they can succeed.
Celebrity judge Ellie Simmonds says, “Chef Hugo and the team are deserving winners of this award. Not only are they cooking the kids and staff healthy, delicious meals from scratch; but they’re also helping the parents too, by sharing recipes and healthy eating habits. I was also struck by the family way of eating here – the children serve themselves and their friends at the table. That’s educating them on portion size, sharing food, and cleaning and tidying away. It’s so much more than food here – it’s part of the culture.“
WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE? MAKING FOOD FROM SCRATCH, USING SEASONAL INGREDIENTS
– Chef Hugo Alho
Chef Hugo Alho heads up the catering team at Reach Academy Feltham, with Marcos Teixeira, Sivarajah Sinnapu, Valerian Laiu, Mwehu Ilunga, Nazareth Fernandes and Kamal Bouchal. The school teaches children from age 2 to 18, and they all eat the same healthy lunches, which are served by the kids themselves, while packed lunches are banned! And everyone loves it – what is Chef Hugo’s secret?
Congratulations on winning your award! How do you feel?
To be honest, we didn’t expect to win, but I’m so happy on behalf of the team, JPL Catering, and the school. At the end of the day, this is teamwork. It’s not about me. I’ve worked here for seven years, and before that I was in restaurants, such as Chelsea Football Club. I knew I could bring what I learnt in the professional kitchens to the school kitchen, and I’ve been here ever since.
You cook for nearly a thousand children a day. How do you keep it so tasty?
It’s not difficult to cook on a big scale if you have the right equipment and the right team. My team is so good at what they do – they keep things fresh and tasting great – I tell the team, if it isn’t good for you, then it’s not good for the kids, that’s our motto. We try to prepare everything on the day, so it’s at its best. I also have to mention that we look after our mental health, too: once a month, the team goes out, we’re here for each other. Because I know that if I’m happy with myself, I’ll be the best I can be.
Why do you like working in school catering?
When I first started, the food wasn’t great, so I knew I could improve it. The school’s budget is very low, so we use seasonal, fresh ingredients to keep costs down. We avoid as much frozen stuff as possible – for example, we make our potato wedges from fresh potatoes, we make our own pasta and sauces too – that’s what makes a difference, in my opinion. In fact, I’ve had parents asking us, ‘My kid only eats your curry, can you give us a recipe?’ Then we bring it to the table for the kids to have a good experience. I feel very grateful for what we do.
Do the kids tell you if they like it?
It’s very important to me if I see clean plates. But the kids are always very honest! And that’s OK. It’s good to get feedback. Once a week, I try to go to all the classes and see how it’s going, then try to adapt to whatever’s wasted.
Do the kids have a favourite meal of yours?
They love curries, roast dinners, pasta… They also like brownies, and our secret is to hide veg in them: the kids won’t eat beetroot, aubergine, or courgette, but they will in a brownie. It’s the same for the pasta sauces, too – we’ll roast up lots of veg, then whizz it up into a sauce. At the end we’ll add some fresh basil and garlic for that fresh taste – that’s when we know they’re going to like it.
We chatted to the Year 3 children, aged eight, who were tucking into Chef Hugo’s lunch of jerk chicken, brown rice and coleslaw. At the beginning of every meal, the children practise five minutes of mindfulness, where they’re asked to think about the food they’re eating…
Ethan says…
“Lunch today is really good. Chef Hugo is a good cook, better than my mum! Thank you for giving us great food, Chef Hugo, I wish when I grow up that I’m like you.”
Finley says…
“Today’s lunch was tasty, but my favourite is fish and chips on Fridays. I help to serve up the desserts sometimes, which also means I get to share out the seconds too!”
Beau says…
“Chef Hugo cooks better than my mum! I like the mindful time at the beginning of each meal, because it gives us a chance to think about our food, as the teachers will ask us questions about it. I think Chef Hugo has won because of the delicious food, and that there isn’t much food being scraped into the bin at the end. Having a good lunch makes me have more energy in the afternoon.”
Sapada says…
“Generally the lunches are very good, but sometimes I don’t like it. Even then I do my best to eat all of it, because I know it’s important not to be hungry. Chef Hugo and the team always try to make us healthy with salads every day. I would give them 9/10 because sometimes the salad is a bit spicy for me.”
Hateem says…
“I love coming to lunch, I really like the food at school. Chef Hugo and the team have worked really hard for the award.”
Tilly Browne, co-head teacher for primary, and Beck Own, co-head teacher for secondary at Reach Academy are bursting with pride for their catering team…
How do you feel about seeing the catering team win the award?
Tilly: I’m so excited to see them recognized and celebrated. They are amazing and there are lots of ways in which they go above and beyond – not just catering lunch every day, which they do incredibly well for nearly 1,000 children, they are part of what makes Reach Academy feel really special.
Bec: Hugo and his team aren’t just feeding the kids, they’re also setting them up for the lives we want them to be able to have, in terms of enjoying different foods, enjoying sitting down and eating as a moment of their day. There’s lots of things we do as teachers, but there are also lots of things we have to do as a whole school to make a rounded child, and he plays a massive role in that.
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