Alaska Seafood to sponsor LACA's Host a School Chef campaign

The Lead Association for Catering in Education (LACA) has announced that the seafood supplier Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI), has confirmed their sponsorship for the 2019 Host a School Chef programme.

Now in its sixth year, the programme offers school chefs opportunities to work in some of the most exclusive restaurants and venues in the country working alongside some of the most celebrated chefs in the industry, helping to showcase the breadth and depth of talent of today's education caterers.

Previously part of the National School Meals Week (NSMW), Host a School Chef is now a standalone year-long programme for the first time.

LACA's chair of events Neil Porter explained: "The success of the Host a School Chef programme over the past five years has exceeded all our expectations and the list of venues that have participated would grace any publication on fine dining.

"It became clear to us that the demand from school chefs and interest from venues wishing to host chefs gave us enough reason for LACA to expand the programme and launch it as an event in its own right. On behalf of the LACA board, I am delighted to welcome Alaska Seafood as headline sponsor for 2019.

"It is important for us to continue the development of Host a School Chef and key to our plans was for us to find the right partner that we can work with and that has similar values to our own. Alaska Seafood meets the criteria perfectly and we believe will a have a significant part to play in helping LACA take Host a School Chef to the next level."

Sarah Johnson from Alaska Seafood added: "We recognise the importance of the education catering industry and the role school caterer's play influencing children's food choices for the better. We also recognise the challenge of diversifying meal plans encouraging children to be open-minded about the food they eat, particularly at a time when the concept of healthy eating is under the spotlight.

"We know that seafood from Alaska is already being served in school kitchens up and down the country and hope that our sponsorship of this programme will help school chefs with their day-to-day challenges to persuade children to eat more fish!"

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