1 in 3
children leave primary school overweight or obese in the most deprived areas
#1
cause of hospital admissions for children aged 5-9 is tooth decay from high-sugar diets
Rising
prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in children linked to poor diet
96%
of parents say it's important that school meals are fresh and nutritious
Who uses Lunchbox Lab

Built for every stakeholder in school food

From a single nursery to a 200-school local authority - Lunchbox Lab scales to your needs and speaks the language of your role.

Stop worrying about your next Ofsted - evidence it instead.

Turn compliance into a continuous, audit-ready record any authorised user can interrogate at any time.
  • Automatic recipe analysis against all School Food Standards requirements
  • Digital audits replacing paper-based food offer and food safety checks
  • Downloadable evidence pack for governors and Ofsted, on demand
  • AI tips flagging which standards you're closest to missing - before an inspection does

One view across your entire trust. Consistent standards, evidenced at scale.

See which schools are compliant and which need support - and share resources across your estate.
  • Trust-wide dashboard showing intention vs reality across all settings
  • Share recipes and meal plans across settings
  • Governor-ready compliance reports for each setting, instantly
  • AI Smart Tips aggregated across your estate

Monitor compliance across your schools. Intervene where it matters.

Identify which schools need support before standards slip - and evidence your programme to DfE.
  • Authority-wide dashboard aggregating compliance across schools, nurseries, HAF provision and early years settings
  • Healthy Eating Award programme data in one place
  • Evidence your authority's school food programme to DfE and public health partners
  • Infrastructure ready for the government's committed national monitoring system

Demonstrate compliance to every school you serve. Win and retain contracts.

Generate per-school compliance reports for every client on demand - and use them in tenders.
  • Manage menus and compliance across all contracted settings from one login
  • Per-school compliance reports generated on demand for every client
  • Digital audits - Food Offer, Food Safety, Nutritional Balance and pupil feedback
  • AI Smart Tips flag at-risk menus before serving begins

EYFS nutrition compliance - software that actually understands it.

Ofsted-ready evidence of EYFS nutrition compliance, on demand - without the admin.
  • Compliance checks for sodium, free sugars, dairy and protein variety - aligned to ages 1-5
  • Multi-site dashboard for nursery group operators
  • Parent-facing reports with no parent login required
  • AI Smart Tips with specific, prioritised menu improvements
Our approach

A platform that works for settings, families and authorities

Three interconnected groups - one platform. Every stakeholder gets genuine value, and school and home nutrition can finally join up.

📊

System-level oversight

Visibility across your whole estate
  • Dashboard view across all settings in your trust or group
  • Track compliance vs School Food Standards and EYFS simultaneously
  • Evidence-based reporting for governance and targeted improvement
🏫

Empowering education settings

From admin burden to confident compliance
  • Instant nutritional analysis by age group and meal type
  • Actionable menu improvement recommendations
  • Compliance reports on demand - Ofsted ready, always
👨‍👩‍👧

Supporting family engagement

Bridging school and home
  • Clear reports on school meals linked to learning and wellbeing
  • Recipe Marketplace extends good habits at home
  • Parent feedback loops support continuous menu improvement
What Lunchbox Lab does

Everything you need to monitor, evidence and improve compliance

One platform for recipe analysis, audit management, nutritional reporting and parent engagement.

📋

Menu Compliance Analysis

Auto-checks recipes against School Food Standards food group requirements, nutrient targets and restricted item rules.

School Food Standards
✅

Audit & Questionnaire Tools

Structured digital questionnaires - Food Offer, Food Safety, Nutritional Balance and more. Timestamped and reportable.

Audit-ready
📊

Real-Time Compliance Dashboard

See the gap between menu intention and audit reality at a glance. Track trends over time.

Live reporting
🍼

EYFS Nutrition Guidelines

Purpose-built for nursery and early years settings, aligned to EYFS nutrition guidance for ages 1-5.

EYFS / Nursery
🏫

Multi-Site Authority Dashboard

Aggregate compliance data across your estate - for MATs, local authorities, nursery groups and contractors.

MAT & LA
💡

AI-Powered Smart Tips

Every audit and menu generates specific, prioritised recommendations referenced to the relevant standard.

AI insights
🔬

Ultra-Processed Food Monitoring

Track the proportion of ultra-processed food in your menus - an increasingly important measure for school food quality. Not addressed by any other school food compliance tool.

UPF analysis
📄

Downloadable Parent Reports

Generate PDF reports on your school's menu and nutritional standards, ready to share with parents. No parent login required. Demonstrate your commitment to healthy school food transparently.

Parent engagement
📱

QR Code Feedback & Surveys

Deploy QR codes for parent surveys, student meal feedback and governor compliance reviews - no app download required. Responses feed directly into your compliance dashboard.

Feedback tools
Getting started

Up and running in an afternoon

No IT department required. Lunchbox Lab is a web application - set up is straightforward and we support you through onboarding.

1

Create your account

Register your setting, choose your subscription and invite your team.

2

Upload your menus & recipes

Add recipes to the platform or browse the shared recipe marketplace. We can help you get started.

3

Run your first audit

Complete a Food Offer Audit or Nutritional Balance check using our structured digital questionnaires.

4

Share your compliance report

Generate a PDF for parents, governors or your local authority - and track your progress over time.

Pricing

Straightforward annual subscriptions

Annual contracts, pay monthly or upfront and save 10%. No per-user fees. Open to one-off audits and projects too - get in touch.

Most common
Single setting
£24.99per month
per month · annual contract

Schools and nurseries. Full compliance suite, audits, parent reports and AI tips.

  • School Food Standards or EYFS monitoring
  • Full audit suite
  • Compliance gap dashboard
  • Parent reports and QR feedback
  • AI Smart Tips
Book a demo
MAT, nursery group or local authority
Volume pricing
tiered from 3+ settings

Everything in single setting, plus multi-site dashboard and compliance reporting across your estate.

  • Multi-site authority dashboard
  • Share recipes and meal plans across settings
  • Estate-wide compliance reporting
  • Volume discounts by estate size
Get a quote
One-off work
Let's talk
projects and audits

Not ready for a subscription? We're happy to discuss standalone menu audits, compliance reviews or consultancy.

Contact us

👨‍👩‍👧 Family subscriptions - bridging school and home

Parents and carers can access inspiring family recipes and nutritional insights. When a school subscribes, families unlock a lower rate.

Standard family

£4.99
per family / month

For families whose school is not yet subscribed.

School-linked family

£2.99
per family / month

Unlocked automatically when a child's school subscribes.

40% saving - unlocked by your school
Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Yes, in England. The Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014 are mandatory for all maintained schools, academies and free schools. The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill extends these to all state-funded schools including at breakfast. Governing boards are responsible for compliance.
The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework requires all Ofsted-registered early years providers to ensure children are offered food and drink that is healthy, balanced and nutritious. The associated nutrition guidance provides specific requirements around food groups, portion sizes, sodium, sugars and dietary variety for children aged 1-5, and underpins Ofsted's inspection judgements.
The government announced in April 2026 that revised School Food Standards will take effect from September 2027 - the most substantial update since 2014. The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill extends School Food Standards to all state-funded schools including breakfast clubs, with 2,000 new schools joining the free breakfast scheme from April 2026. From September 2026, free school meal eligibility expands to all Universal Credit households.
All Lunchbox Lab subscriptions are annual contracts. You can choose to pay monthly (£24.99/month per setting, billed each month) or pay the full year upfront and save 10% (£269.89/year per setting, equivalent to £22.49/month). Multi-setting and authority-wide pricing is available on request with tiered discounts from 3+ settings.
Most settings are generating their first compliance report within an afternoon. Creating your account takes a few minutes. Adding your recipes is the most time-consuming part - but you can use the shared recipe marketplace to get started quickly, and our team can assist with recipe uploads as part of onboarding.
Yes. Recipes you add to Lunchbox Lab are private to your setting by default. You choose whether to share them to the public recipe marketplace. For multi-site organisations, you can share recipes privately across your own settings without making them publicly visible.
No. Parent-facing features - including reports, QR code feedback surveys and meal plan summaries - are all accessible without a parent login. PDF reports can be sent directly by email or via your existing school communications platform such as ParentPay, Arbor or School Spider.
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs), defined under the NOVA food classification system, are increasingly linked to poor health outcomes. A major 2025 Lancet Series found consistent epidemiological evidence linking higher UPF consumption with increased risks of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and premature mortality. Lunchbox Lab tracks UPF content in your menus as a proportion of total food served - visibility that no other school food compliance tool currently provides.

Ready to make your school food compliance measurable?

Book a free demo tailored to your setting, trust or authority. No commitment required.

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