Alliance Catering is contracted to manage the supply of food at the School. It operates an office within Christ Church Grammar School as part of worldwide company Spotless Catering. “The advantage of being linked to Spotless is that they provide additional support and extra staff, if necessary,” Colin says. He has worked at Spotless for approximately 10 years, four of which have been at Christ Church. “The School is a wonderful place to work and the people are great.”

Colin says that the team pride themselves on a great breakfast menu, the most important meal of the day. Fruit is always readily available and the boarders are encouraged to take a few pieces with them each day before they go to classes. At lunchtime there are a wide variety of salad choices. “If the boys want to eat healthy all the time there are plenty of opportunities. Obviously we have a budget so they are not eating fillet steak every night – but the students do eat very well – this week they were treated to Kangaroo!”

A special committee, made up of senior boarding students, meet with Colin each month to discuss the menu choices for the Residential Community. “Our staff are in direct consultation with the students,” he said. “If there is a sporting event, we may have a pasta night – there is a lot of variety with the menu. We get the boarders to participate in a survey each year, which gives us an idea of what they want, what they don’t want, and the things they really like.”

“We find that the older the boys get, the healthier they like to eat. The younger kids often just want ice cream and fish and chips all the time, but we always try to limit the amount of fatty and deep fried foods they eat. Each week, our menus are sent to our head office and a nutritionist examines them.”

Colin and his team also run a number of special dinner activities with the assistance of the Director of the Residential Community Geoffrey Guggenheimer.

Example lunch menu - Term 1 2012

All lunches are served with a choice of a cold drink, snack and fresh fruit.

	Monday Turkey cranberry panini with cheese and lettuce Tuna on multigrain roll with lettuce and mayo Smoked salmon sushi and salad Chicken sandwich with cheese and salad (2 rounds)
	Tuesday Boxed chicken and salad Chicken panin with sundried tomato, cheese and salad Beef wrap with cheese, mustard and salad Cheese and vegemite sandwich
	Wednesday Chicken sushi and saland Cold roast beef and pickle sandwich with cucumber, carrot and tomato (2 rounds) Ham and cream cheese panini with tomato and red onion Salami baguette with tasty cheese, green capsicum and olives
	Thursday French stick with avocado, bacon, lettuce and cheese Ham and salad sandwich (2 rounds) Boxed Caesar salad Cold roast beef wrap with mustard and salad