Hampshire County Council Catering Services (HC3S)
Catering services for schools, venues, workplaces and attractions - serving 67,800 meals across 496 sites each day
What’s fresh at HC3S
Spicing up lunchtimes, our new primary school menu to help children flourish starts after half term. We’ve brought back some pupil favoured dishes such as our plant-based bean and vegetable burrito and our cheese and onion slice, a take on the popular cheese and potato slice. And they’ll be a cheer for the return of the Yorkshire pudding, a perfect partner for our roast chicken dinner!
Quality and care for the environment is still central to our plate. Our suppliers work towards reducing their carbon footprint and support biodiversity. While some school caterers have chosen to remove more expensive beef for their roast in favour of gammon or turkey, we’re sticking with beef, for the iron needed in children’s diets to keep blood healthy and support healthy development.
New dishes include meals such nacho bites, developed exclusively for HC3S, drawing on how Mexican food is popular in households today. Children at Weeke Primary School are one of many schools who taste tested them to cries of “delicious!” A blend of haricot beans, sweet potato, sweetcorn and red peppers coated in a gluten free cornflake crumb, it means extra veg intake in a way pupils enjoy. Another new dish to look out for is our delicious fishcake, knowing how much children in Hampshire enjoy our succulent salmon and popular pollock. School meals still come with plenty of vegetables, homemade bread and salad representing excellent value for school lunch.
Give your child the best start to their time at school and help them flourish with a nutritious school meal. Visit our school lunches hub to download our Year R new starter guide and learn all about the benefits of a school lunch.
We believe school lunch is a fantastic way for children to share the experience of trying new foods. Knowing that your child is having a healthy, delicious meal every day is one less thing for you to worry about.
Find out more about our award winning catering service from our Operations Manager.
Food to Flourish
Our nutritious school lunch helps children flourish by giving them the right balance of nutrients and energy to enhance concentration during afternoon lessons, in assembly or on the sports field. It contributes to building lifelong healthy eating habits that will allow them to flourish as their minds and bodies grow.
Our Food to Flourish Classroom is a suite of curriculum-based free teaching resources for our schools to use to engage pupils with healthy food.
Food Labelling Changes and How it Affects You
On 1 October 2021 the requirements for labelling pre-packaged food for sale direct to customers, changed across the UK.
Our customers can have full confidence in HC3S’ ability to manage this change and protect the safety of our customers whether they are in a school or restaurant setting. To find out more about our responsibilities and how these requirements affect you, please read through our guide.
From farm to fork, we care about everything we do
Trusted and ethical suppliers
Helping future generations flourish
Great taste, better health
Meals you'll want to make at homeTop of the class, and served in your school
HC3S is the catering partner chosen to provide nutritious and tasty meals in your child's school or nursery. We cater for many different tastes, serving a mix of British classics and foods from around the world. We know that a nutritious lunch full of fresh ingredients will help your child to succeed.
Our teams are passionate about making healthy eating fun. Year group assemblies, visits with suppliers and our ever-popular theme days are just a few of the ways that we can get involved.
Catering in Hampshire
Our coffee shops are part of the local community. We've created relaxed spaces where you enjoy curling up with a good book or meeting friends for sandwiches and cake. All our coffee shops double as the perfect venue for business meetings.
We can also provide catering for events and meetings. We offer everything from fresh salads, wraps and sandwiches to pastries. With a variety of fresh and ethically sourced drinks including locally roasted Mozzo coffee and award-winning Birchall tea, you'll find a welcome with us.
Work with us
- Every day brings a new challenge. The work is varied, fast paced and customer centred
- Gain invaluable knowledge by educating the next generation on the importance of a healthy balanced diet
- Work as part of a committed and enthusiastic team
- Develop your skills, receive training in Food Safety, Allergens, Health and Safety, Manual Handling and further developmental training if you are interested (e.g. NVQs)
- Great work life balance as lots of our roles are term time only
But don't just take our word for it
Our multi-award winning service excels time and again. With a track-record like this, you can trust every bite.