Olive Dining, a family-run catering specialist for the education sector, has been named a finalist in The Blick Rothenberg Mid-Market Growth Business of the Year Award at the 2026 Lloyds British Business Excellence Awards. From its base in Oxted, Surrey, the company serves fresh, nutritious and culturally relevant meals to more than 150,000 students across 170 schools in London and the South East.
The shortlisting follows a period of rapid expansion. According to the business, it has grown by 70% within the last two years while holding a 100% client retention rate and a 93% staff retention rate, the record it will now put before the judges of the Mid-Market Growth Business of the Year category.
Stephanie Spratt founded the company in 2012 after concluding that school catering was largely driven by cost, reliant on processed ingredients and often out of step with the diverse backgrounds of the students it fed. Thirteen years on, Olive Dining has built a growing reputation for partnering with schools to support pupils’ physical and mental development through nutritious food, while working to create an inclusive experience in which every member of the school community feels valued and represented.
Widening access to a hot meal
Many of the schools it caters for sit in deprived areas of London, where a growing percentage of students qualify for Free School Meals (FSM) and some children may not have access to warm, healthy food at home. The company reports that its 1356+ team has used bespoke menus, engaging catering environments and strong community partnerships to lift average meal uptake from 60% to 95% in some schools, and that it has provided FSM for 68,225 students in total.
That work sits within a regulated sector. Under the government’s school food standards, food served in all maintained schools and academies in England must include daily portions of fruit, vegetables and starchy foods, while foods high in fat, salt and sugar are severely restricted.
Fresh ingredients, less waste
Olive Dining states that 98% of its ingredients are fresh and that it has cut food waste by 15%, evidence, it argues, that quality, sustainability and financial success can work together in the public sector. On its website, the caterer says 75% of its menus are plant based, with dishes inspired by many countries and cultures and options for specific dietary requirements such as halal.
Eyes on November
Looking ahead, the business plans to increase market share by engaging with Multi-Academy Trusts and larger scale secondary schools, and forecasts a further 25% of growth within the next 12 months. It adds that it will keep investing in people, innovation and technology while contributing positively to the local communities in which it operates.
Olive Dining will discover the result alongside its fellow finalists when the Lloyds British Business Excellence Awardsceremony takes place at Grosvenor House, London on 10 November 2026, following the announcement of the shortlist in July 2026.
