School lunch service 'The Lunch Bag' expanding in Westmeath

Photo: Left to right, Geraldine Kiveney (Athlone) and Mary Deegan (Tyrrellstown).

The Lunch Bag, Ireland’s premier school lunch provider for primary schools has announced an expansion into Westmeath, supporting a new era of child nutrition and health.

The concept of delivering fresh food directly to the classroom is one that is commonplace for DEIS schools nationwide. However, there has never been an option for parents in non-DEIS schools to have such an offering before. Ray Nangle, CEO of the innovative project, got the idea from the challenges he saw in his own home.

With three small children, the Wexford man noticed the age-old dilemma of home-made lunches. “More often than not my children were taking the same repetitive ham sandwich to school, with so much uneaten food dumped at the end of the week. I wanted to create something that allowed families to have a wide variety of fresh food every day for the same price as a homemade lunch. We want to take the pressure off parents while opening up a world of healthy eating choices to children”.

Teaming up with Athlone woman Geraldine Kiveney, the pair set to work developing an innovative app and service that has taken the country by storm.

“We started meeting in coffee shops in Athlone, dreaming up the idea, graduating to our first hire in August 2019, and opening an office in Tullamore. One year later we now have a 22,500 sq ft facility in Nenagh, with over 70 staff, serving over 100 schools nationwide,” stated Ms Kiveney.

The lunches are ordered via The Lunch Bag app and delivered directly to the class in compostable, individual bags. The tag line of ‘Empowered, Educated Eating’ serves to encourage children to ‘build’ their own lunches from an enormous variety of fresh food, which simply isn’t available to most homes without significant cost or waste.

“Sustainability is two-fold in our company,” said Ms Kiveney. “In the first instance, families are seeing an immediate reduction in packaging in the home. For example, rather than each student in the school binning a packet of ham each week, we work closely with our suppliers to ensure we have only one packet for the whole school. All our Lunch Bag packaging is 100% compostable, ensuring that plastic lunchboxes are not remaining on landfill for a lifetime.”

The second element of sustainability comes in the form of food waste.

“Our research has shown that families on average, dump up to €1,000 worth of food every year. For those who are trying to accommodate the likes and dislikes of each of their children, there will inevitably be food waste. Parents are faced with the difficult challenge of juggling cost and food waste yet trying to provide the best nutrition for each child. For the same cost as the lunch products in your weekly shop which depletes in freshness, you can now have a myriad of fresh food and variety each day for the same cost,” Ms Kiveney continued.

While ‘The Lunch Bag’ tackles the larger issues of sustainable food solutions and child nutrition, it is also simply a welcome good news story in the current climate, with the company set to hire over 150 staff in the next 12 months.

“While Covid has thrown up some challenges, it has also afforded amazing opportunities. Schools trust our sterile kitchens and take comfort in the fact our lunches are compostable, reducing items being transferred between home and school,” she added.

Lunch Bag Brand Ambassadors will be approaching all schools in the Midlands over the coming weeks to inform staff about the service. If you are interested in having sample lunches sent to your staffroom or want more information on how to register your school to receive the service email info@thelunchbag.ie or call 0433362038.