LACA Main Event & School Food Show

Serving healthy, sustainable school meals is the focus of a number of conference, workshop and cooking demo sessions at LACA’s Main Event in Birmingham from July 6-8

The LACA Main Event, incorporating the School Food Show, is the largest national event dedicated to the school food sector. 

Organisers at school meals organisation LACA have been busy preparing the line-up for this year’s Main Event, arranging a number of experts, operators and senior industry figures to speak on the key themes of health, sustainability and productivity.

Tom Heap, freelance author and journalist who created and presents BBC Radio's flagship climate change podcast ‘39 Ways to Save the Planet’ will present to delegates. 

He will also host a panel of subject matter experts who will discuss the school food sector’s role in the UK’s journey towards Net Zero - what can realistically be achieved and by when?

Following on from their deeply moving and impactful speech at the Main Event 2021, Tanya and Nadim Ednan-Laperouse OBE will return to update us on the impact of Natasha’s Law to date and to discuss the next steps in creating a world that is safe for all allergy sufferers, everywhere.

Paul Evans, Operations Director of School Health UK and Co-Chairman of The British Obesity Society, will discuss the role a Better Lunchtime can have in improving the school day.

Keith Warren, director of the FEA, will look at the role of technology and automation for the school kitchen today and into the future.  He will be joined by Amelia Jonas, Food Development Manager at Karakuri, who will be talking about Semblr, the world’s leading food service robot combining robotics, automation and machine learning.

Alongside this, the Main Event will be running its practical Workshop Sessions offering advice and sharing best practice case studies. The workshops are free to attend, and open to both visitors and delegates.

Angela Tregear of the University of Edinburgh Business School returns to update delegates about the Carbon Calculator measuring the carbon footprint of the sector with other workshops focusing on energy efficient kit, team wellbeing and sustainable sourcing.

There will also be the LACA Live a series of cookery demonstrations focusing on local and sustainable produce.

Those showcasing their culinary skills at LACA Live this year include former England rugby player and Celebrity Masterchef winner, Phil Vickery, representing Creed Foodservice, school chefs working with Love British Food, HCL Ltd sharing its expertise in fruit-carving, and ProVeg, who will showcase some of its School Plates recipes.

And the School Food Show brings together under one roof the largest collection of food, drink, equipment and software suppliers with products dedicated to the education sector.

Running alongside the conference sessions, it is the largest national exhibition dedicated 100% to the school food sector, with more than 140 exhibitors, it is the ideal place to find solutions to a wide range of requirements from food and beverage products which can help education caterers meet the nutrient guidelines, through to cashless payment and nutrition software solutions, furniture and dining room marketing.x

To find out more about the LACA Main Event and School Food Show click here.