Placing an order

Q. Is there a minimum order requirement?
A minimum order of 20 hot lunches a day is required to keep the temperature of the food at or above the required level until time of serving.

Q. How is an order placed?
Once you join us, our dedicated admin team will issue you with a unique log-in to our online ordering portal. The ordering page is quick and easy to use, here you can see the daily menus and select from a wide range of dietary alternatives. You can also repeat a previous order.

Q. Can we try the food before we order?
Of course! Please contact us on admin@earlyyearscatering.co.uk to arrange a free, no-obligation, trial.

Q. Can we use you for short-term cover?
Yes! As well as permanent contracts, we offer short-term cover for staff holidays or sickness.

Deliveries

Q. How will our food arrive?
The food is delivered daily by our fleet of electric vans which are easily recognisable with our company logo. Your driver will be DBS checked, dressed in our Early Years Catering uniform and wearing an ID badge.

Q. What areas do you deliver to?
We are a company based in the Southwest who deliver hot lunches and afternoon teas to Bristol, Bath, Weston, and the surrounding areas. If you fall outside of this, please get in touch as we are constantly expanding and going further!

Q. What time will our food arrive?
We aim to deliver the lunch and/or afternoon teas by 11:30 each day. You will be given a delivery time when you come on board depending on your location. All of our vans are tracked so in the event of a driver being delayed due to factors beyond our control, we will give you as much notice as possible whilst ensuring this delay has as little impact as possible.

Q. How do you ensure the food stays hot?
We ensure that, during the cooking process, all the food reaches a core temperature of 85 degrees. Once this is achieved, the tins are packed into insulated boxes and loaded on to the vans ready for delivery. This procedure, along with the carefully planned delivery times, means that your food will reach you above 63 degrees. Your daily food temperatures at time of leaving our kitchens is available on our portal for you to download for your records.

Q. What does a typical menu look like?
You can see an example of our standard menu here.
Our menus run on a 4-weekly cycle which changes 3 times a year. This allows for a great deal of variety and better use of seasonal and local ingredients.

Q. Can we freeze or re-heat the food?
All of our hot food is made to be eaten at lunchtime on the same day as delivery. It is not to be cooled down and re-heated or frozen to be consumed at a later date.