Combining in-depth nutritional expertise, innovation, and genuine passion, Holroyd Howe sets the standard for school catering
Since 1997, Holroyd Howe has been redefining the possibilities of great school catering. Built around the belief that no two schools are the same, the business creates specially tailored dining experiences that go beyond traditional expectations. Backed by the strengths of its parent company, WSH, and sister companies, Holroyd Howe delivers fresh, nutritious food to independent schools across the UK, cultivating a three-decade-long reputation for its healthy, thoughtfully developed menus. Today, with sustainability at its core, the company continues to grow and flourish, feeding, inspiring, and educating pupils to make good choices with its tasty, virtuous, and satisfying menu options.
Leading the business today are Holroyd Howe’s Joint Managing Directors, Scott Morley and Robin Bidgood. Together, they bring together a wealth of prior industry passion and expertise – with Scott’s background being in the kitchen and Robin’s in front-of-house – and cultivate a special management style that differentiates Holroyd Howe in a competitive sector. With the company having just surpassed its 25th anniversary in 2025, Food Chain sits down with Robin and Scott to uncover the driving factors behind the company’s core philosophy and continued success.
“We operate at almost 200 independent schools across the UK,” Robin begins, sharing insight into the business’ operations. “The principle behind what we do is that everything is made bespoke on site. The craft element is an important part of the business; we have chef teams in every location who produce fresh food on a daily basis, and we don’t operate off single central menus – every school is given the autonomy to work with us to produce food that works for their pupils.”
Industry impact
To bolster this core mission, Holroyd Howe champions a unique, truly bespoke approach to education catering. The company’s fully tailored approach shapes all menus and service styles around each school’s in-dividual preferences, taking into account the ages and dietary needs of all its pupils rather than relying on a traditional one-size-fits-all model. However, while every school is empowered to shape its own food offering, every menu is underpinned by a clear focus on nutritional wellbeing, ensuring that every dish meets Holroyd Howe’s renowned high standards of health and balance.
“Of course, we have a strong emphasis on nutrition,” Robin continues. “Our Lead Nutritionist, Ellie Olds, alongside colleagues Sasha and Dan, makes sure that the food that we serve is healthy, balanced, nutritious, and takes into consideration the different age groups and demographics that we’re working with. It’s also important for us to be a part of the pupils’ educational journeys as well, so Ellie and the team visit schools to teach children of all age groups about nutrition, what a balanced diet looks like, and so forth.”
“We’re incredibly proud of our nutritional team,” Scott adds. “Dan is an ex-professional rugby player, and Sasha was Head of Nutrition for a professional mountain biking team that competed across the globe. Ellie is also a professional footballer who plays for Fulham’s Women’s Team alongside her day job, and she’s recently had some major recognition. In 2025, she won the Acorn award for her contribution to food and the Catey award for Nutrition in Education, which is fabulous in showing real industry impact.”
Alongside this emphasis on nutritional value, staying ahead of changing tastes is a key priority for Holroyd Howe. To remain at the forefront of market leadership in the sector, the company’s comprehensive and detailed research and development processes closely analyze evolving food trends whilst taking advantage of the capabilities available across the wider WSH family.
“If you look at school feeding now, it’s moving closer to what happens in the high street. It’s more about grazing with a lot more international elements, so while we might have a three-course roast lunch as part of a three-week menu cycle, it’ll sit among things such as poke bowls and wraps,” Robin elaborates. “All of the operating companies within the wider WSH business all work off the same procurement platform, so we can cross-fertilize with our sister companies in terms of food trends and ingredient composition. In addition, we pull all the creative team together three or four times throughout the year for food-led days, to discuss innovation themes, and so forth. Once a year, Scott and I also host what we call ‘Flavour Fest’, which is when the whole business comes together to review what we believe to be the future of food themes and how we can keep supporting schools with interesting and nutritious food.”
Customization and choice
Holroyd Howe’s forward-thinking approach to menu development is closely tied to a broader sense of sustainability within the business – an ethos that permeates throughout all its internal and external operations.
“Our mantra for our ‘War on Waste’ project is “take what you want but want what you take”. Fundamentally, it’s all about education and splits into three key areas. The first is centered around the things that we can directly control – food production methods, assessing food consumption and waste, and trying to utilize every single part of our ingredients. For example, we’ll dry and dehydrate onion skins and turn them into a powder to be used as seasoning,” Scott explains.
“The next part is education. On our counters, we have different visual portion sizes, and we really engage with the pupils asking how hungry they are. It’s not a case of telling them what they can and can’t have, but it’s about careful and eloquent signposting so that they can enjoy the service while making an in-formed decision. For instance, a pupil who has just competed in a large sports tournament might be a lot hungrier than one who has been studying; it’s all about customization and choice.
“Finally, the third part is working closely with the schools to challenge what might be quite a historic catering culture,” he confirms. “We want to have strong relationships with our schools and have more engagement at assemblies and throughout the dining hall to make sure that the food we’re serving is what the pupils actually want to eat. We work with some companies that produce very good surveying tools, which makes our project a good mix of technology and education.”
Championing continued growth
As Holroyd Howe looks to the future, its commitment to quality, innovation, and responsibility remains as strong as ever. By combining bespoke service, nutritional expertise, and a forward-thinking approach to sustainability, the business continues to set the benchmark for independent school catering, ensuring that every meal not only nourishes pupils, but also supports their wider education and wellbeing – now and for many more years to come.
“It’s a challenging time within the sector, so our priority, first and foremost, is to remain agile and deeply focused on our partnerships,” Scott reveals. “We want to remain supportive and have open and honest conversations with our clients throughout this tough period – to maintain our position as an industry-leading expert and drive the sector wherever we can. Beyond that though, we see ourselves continuing to grow as a business and harness the opportunities in the marketplace.”
“Around 45 percent of independent schools still do all of their food in-house, which provides a real opportunity to demonstrate to people that we can help making catering easier for them – particularly when the
sector is stressed,” Robin says, concluding our conversation, optimistic for the years ahead. “There are challenges within the sector, but with all those challenges come good opportunities for us to continue to grow.”