School Food Matters

What School Food Matters does

School Food Matters is a UK-registered charity (Charity Number 1134094) founded in 2007 and headquartered at Blackfriars Settlement, 9 Rushworth Street, London. The charity delivers fully funded food education and school food transformation programmes to schools across England, alongside national policy advocacy for better school meals and food education. Its flagship Nourish programme, originally the Healthy Zones programme in the London Borough of Richmond, has been delivered in 108 London schools and is now expanding nationally into Birmingham, Cumberland, Hertfordshire and a further 14 cities, with a stated model of supporting primary, secondary and SEND schools through a whole-school approach to food.

The charity operates a portfolio of interconnected programmes covering food education (Young Marketeers, Garden Gurus, We Can Cook, Know Your Onions, Fresh Enterprise, Schools to Market, Honeybee Programme, Welcome), food access (Holiday Food and Fun, Great Plates Partnership) and school food improvement (Nourish, School Garden Grants), supplemented by a research stream (Adapt-Ed for SEND, Cost of a School Meal Report, Nourish Secondaries) and policy campaigns (School Food Review, Two Cities, Manifesto 2024). It is a core partner in the School Food Project coalition alongside Bite Back, Chefs in Schools, Jamie Oliver Group and The Food Foundation, which manages a £2.3m implementation fund to support schools adopting new UK government food standards by 2027.

The business model is that of a UK grant-funded charity with no fees charged to schools. Income is diversified across individual donations, corporate partnerships (Charity of the Year sponsorships, cause-related marketing), trust and foundation grants (including Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, The National Lottery Community Fund and two Whole Foods Market Foundation grants of $250,000 and $746,128 in 2025), and council co-funding for regional delivery (Cumberland Council, Southwark, Lambeth, Hertfordshire). Headcount sits in the 11–50 band with approximately 30 named staff including registered nutritionists, policy specialists and regional project officers, and the charity is scaling under a dedicated Scaling Manager for Nourish.

Name

School Food Matters

Legal name

School Food Matters

Website

https://schoolfoodmatters.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

School Food Matters is a UK charity founded in 2007 that delivers fully funded food education and school food transformation programmes to schools across England and campaigns for better national school food policy. It reaches primary, secondary and SEND schools through flagship programmes such as Nourish, Young Marketeers and Garden Gurus, funded by donations, grants and corporate partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Non-profit Food Education and School Food Transformation Services

NAICS

Community Food Services (62421), Elementary and Secondary Schools (61111)

akta.pro primary industry

Menu Planning, Nutrition & Dietary Accommodation Services (Allergens, Special Diets) (EDAEAEAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Food Services Administration (Meal Eligibility, POS, Nutrition Compliance) (EDAJAHAJ), School Feeding & Social Protection Partnerships (Conditional Cash Transfers, etc.) (EDADALAL), School Feeding & Child Nutrition Programs (BPADAJAD)

Keywords

• Food education programmes
• School food transformation
• Nutrition education services
• School meal advocacy
• Charitable food programmes

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Fundraising: The charity relies on public donations and fundraising activities to support its operations and programmes.
2. Corporate Partnerships: Partnerships with companies provide funding, employee engagement, and sponsorship opportunities. Companies can become Charity of the Year, sponsor programmes, or engage in cause-related marketing.
3. Trust and Foundation Grants: Funding from charitable trusts and foundations including Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, The National Lottery Community Fund, and many others listed on their funding page.
4. Charity of the Year Partnerships: Companies can partner as Charity of the Year, providing sustained support through corporate team building, community outreach, and co-branded activities.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

School Food Matters is a UK charity that delivers fully funded food education programmes (including cooking, growing, and food literacy) to primary and secondary schools across England, and runs advocacy campaigns for better national school food policy. It offers a portfolio of named programmes such as Nourish, Young Marketeers, Garden Gurus, We Can Cook, Know Your Onions, Fresh Enterprise, Schools to Market, Honeybee, Holiday Food and Fun, Welcome, School Garden Grants, and Great Plates Partnership, supplemented by research publications and policy campaigns.

Product overview

School Food Matters is a UK charity founded in 2007 that operates as a platform of interconnected food education programmes, school food improvement initiatives, and advocacy campaigns. The core offerings include Nourish (school food transformation), Young Marketeers, Garden Gurus, We Can Cook, Schools to Market, Know Your Onions, Fresh Enterprise, Honeybee Programme, Holiday Food and Fun, Welcome, School Garden Grants, and Great Plates Partnership. These are supplemented by research initiatives (Adapt-Ed, Cost of a School Meal Report, Nourish Secondaries), campaigns (School Food Review, Two Cities, Manifesto 2024), and resource products (Recipes, Gardening Resources, School Food Guides). The charity delivers fully funded food education programmes to schools across England, campaigns for better school food policy, and publishes research to drive policy change.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Nourish: School food transformation programme (formerly Healthy Zones) that supports schools to create food environments putting children's nutrition first. Uses a whole school approach involving the entire school community.
• Young Marketeers
• Garden Gurus
• We Can Cook
• Know Your Onions
• Fresh Enterprise
• Schools to Market
• Holiday Food and Fun
• Honeybee Programme
• Welcome
• Great Plates Partnership
• School Garden Grants
• Food Education Network

Products and services

• Nourish School food transformation programme (formerly Healthy Zones) that supports schools to create food environments prioritising children's nutrition through whole-school approaches, action plans, and policies covering food served across the entire school day, including catering contract reform and meal uptake improvement. Delivered fully funded to state schools across England.
• Young Marketeers National food education programme where primary school children learn about local and environmental impacts of food, grow their own vegetables, engage in food marketing, and sell their harvests at community markets such as Borough Market in London.
• Garden Gurus Programme working with primary schools to create food-growing gardens and providing staff with the skills and confidence to lead gardening programmes independently after School Food Matters' involvement ends.
• We Can Cook Programme introducing children to creating and tasting delicious food while building cooking confidence through hands-on cooking sessions delivered in schools.
• Schools to Market Programme where children and young people learn about the journey of food from farm to market, including farm visits and market day activity in partnership with Whole Foods Market stores.
• Know Your Onions Programme giving secondary school students the opportunity to try cooking and vegetable growing to stimulate interest in food and love of the natural world, delivered with partner Growing Communities.
• Fresh Enterprise Programme teaching students about careers in food by giving them the opportunity to create their own food products and experience the journey from concept to store shelf.
• Honeybee Programme Programme through which children explore the world of honeybees and discover why these insects are essential to the food system.
• Holiday Food and Fun Programme supporting families by providing children with fun activities and hot, healthy meals during school holidays, addressing holiday hunger.
• Welcome Programme using the meditative and unifying power of gardening to help children who have recently arrived in the UK or are facing other challenges settle into school life.
• School Garden Grants Programme providing schools with funding to transform outdoor spaces into thriving gardens where children can grow fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Great Plates Partnership Partnership programme supporting London's primary schools to make school food even better through food environment improvements across primary schools in the capital.
• School Food Project Coalition initiative with Bite Back, Chefs in Schools, Jamie Oliver Group, and The Food Foundation providing a £2.3m implementation fund to support schools implementing new UK government food standards by 2027, including Jamie Oliver's 10 Skills programme offered to every school.

Quantifiable outcome

• Meal uptake increased by 22% in first term, 39% by December, with some schools doubling numbers in Richmond campaign
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered important, core and minor.

• University of BirminghamimportantStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 April 2026Collaboration on Nourish Secondaries research project exploring how school food transformation programmes can be effectively delivered in secondary schools.
• Cumberland CouncilimportantStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 April 2026Delivery partner for Nourish programme in Cumberland, with council's school food team delivering the programme.
• Bite BackcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 April 2026Part of the School Food Project coalition with School Food Matters, Chefs in Schools, Jamie Oliver Group, and The Food Foundation. Bite Back ensures young people's voices are front and centre of the campaign.
• Chefs in SchoolscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 April 2026Part of the School Food Project coalition working directly with schools to transform food culture by elevating food quality and developing catering team skills.
• Jamie Oliver GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 April 2026Part of the School Food Project coalition offering Jamie Oliver's 10 Skills programme to every school for food education.
• The Food FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 April 2026Part of the School Food Project coalition leading the public campaign, monitoring and evaluating progress, and building on years of campaigning for better school food.
• Growing CommunitiesimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity-led London organisation connecting people with sustainable food and organic farming. Partner through Know Your Onions programme for farm visits and food education.
• The Country TrustimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerCharity providing farm visits and outdoor food education experiences. Evidence shows lasting impact on children's confidence and relationship with food.
• Northern Pasta Co.minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCumbrian pasta producer that raised £1,000 to support School Food Matters' work in Cumberland and will fund free cookery sessions in selected schools.
• River CafeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvided support for garden relocation after Chelsea Flower Show.
• Borough MarketimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner for Young Marketeers programme where children sell their produce at Borough Market in London.
• Whole Foods MarketminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner for Schools to Market programme with stores hosting market days.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Bite Back 2030: Youth-led UK charity campaigning for children's right to healthy, sustainable food. A School Food Project coalition partner with overlapping advocacy mission and school engagement.
• Chefs in Schools: UK charity training school chefs and transforming school food culture, closely matching SFM's Nourish whole-school food transformation approach. A direct School Food Project coalition partner.
• Soil Association Food for Life: UK school food certification programme (Food for Life Served Here) used by SFM's partner schools. Operates in the same whole-school food quality space with a standards-based approach.
• Magic Breakfast: UK charity providing free school breakfasts to children facing food insecurity. Comparable charity model addressing school food access, with overlapping funder and government relationships.
• The Food Foundation: UK food policy and research charity leading the School Food Project public campaign. Shares SFM's policy advocacy and school food focus with stronger research publication capability.
• Jamie Oliver Group: Provides the Jamie Oliver 10 Skills food education programme to UK schools through the School Food Project coalition. Direct peer in school food education with much larger consumer brand reach.

Emerging players

• Feeding Britain: UK charity working to end hunger and food poverty, including school food policy work. Comparable advocacy focus on food insecurity but broader than school-only scope.
• Sustain: UK alliance for better food and farming advocacy, including Children's Food Campaign work. Overlaps with SFM on policy advocacy for healthier and more sustainable food systems.
• Alexandra Rose Charity: UK charity providing fruit and veg vouchers to families on low incomes, including school-based programmes. Comparable charity operating in children's food access with different intervention model.

Others

• Children's Health Fund / Cookery School at Little Portland Street: UK cookery school charity delivering food education to children including from the former Children's Food Trust. Adjacent in food education delivery but smaller scale and London-focused.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/sfmtweet
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCg0h6hLc-HxcTjASqEIHb5w
• Facebookfacebook.com/schoolfoodmattersuk
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/school-food-matters
• Instagraminstagram.com/schoolfoodmatters

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about School Food Matters