SCG London serves up The Hub

The image of school dinners is set to be changed forever, with the introduction of a new café brand, to be rolled out to secondary schools across the country.

Branding and communications specialist SCG London has created The Hub, after being appointed by Chartwells, the national education arm of catering company the Compass Group. It has been trialed at Deptford Green School in south London and aims to “redefine the school meal experience”, according to SCG London director James Davies.

Replacing the traditional formats of dining rooms, the contemporary style café format features dynamic branding and bright graphics, such as circles and ellipses in blues, oranges and white, while dark blue is used in the main logo. There are also lifestyle images of children at play and exotic locations, reflecting the multi-ethnic mix of schools and providing an area for pupils to meet friends and escape from the school environment. Individual sub-brands for burgers, pizzas, a “health shelf”, sandwiches and baked potatoes have been developed, too.

“This was a challenging project given that the targeted 11-18-year-olds are probably the most brand aware consumers,” explains Davies. “The Hub will ensure the schools deliver the best food for children in a relevant and memorable way, to compete with global fast food operations.”