Food Partners - Brakes and Nutritics

Our nursery food is supplied by award-winning UK foodservice supplier, Brakes, and this partnership provides us with access to the state-of-the-art ‘Nutritics’ nutrition management programme.

What is Nutritics?

Nutritics is a menu management and nutrition analysis software that was initially developed for use by professional athletes. Using this technology for Bright Horizons nurseries makes planning healthy, nutritious meals very simple. We can see the levels of carbohydrate, protein, fat, salt, sugar and trace elements in each dish, and then use this insight to create a fully balanced menu across the whole week. Nutritics supports allergy management too, setting out the nutritional breakdown of each individual meal, so that we can build menus that taste delicious and keep everyone safe.

How we use it

Meal ingredients are uploaded into Nutritics to provide the most up to date information about nutrition and allergies. This helps our chefs to plan the recipes, while also ensuring that the government guidelines set out in the Action for Children guidance are followed.

All information, ingredients, recipes and methods are collated within the software, and popular recipes can be shared with parents who would like to replicate them at home.

For children with dietary requirements, Nutritics allows us to remove restricted foods and add suitable replacements, whilst still maintaining clear information on the nutritional breakdown. This enables us to meet each child’s individual needs, and alerts the chef to the impact of removing or replacing specific ingredients. 

What are the benefits?

Department of Health data tells us that over a fifth of children are either overweight or obese by the time they join reception class in primary school (their final year in the EYFS).

Using the correct portion sizes, as set out in the government guidelines, ensures that all children are given the correct balance of ingredients from every food group, that their dietary needs are met, and that we are supporting their physical health as much as we do their education.