On this page
Planning for the unexpected#
We’ve developed a framework to help Healthy School Lunches meal providers prepare for unexpected disruptions. Having a plan in place helps you think through possible scenarios and decide how to respond before they happen.
This framework is aimed at meal providers using an internal or iwi and hapū delivery model.
What is business continuity planning#
A business continuity plan is a backup plan for when an unplanned event disrupts your day‑to‑day operations. It sets out what to do before, during and after an event to keep services running where possible.
Why it’s important#
Events like pandemics and severe weather can cause:
- school or kura closures
- infrastructure issues
- staff shortages
- supply chain disruptions
- communication outages
- planning ahead helps reduce disruption and supports a faster recovery.
Know how to respond#
Managing an adverse event generally involves the following steps.
- Determine severity, activate plans to stabilise the situation.
- Ensure crucial business functions can still be delivered.
- Enact recovery plan and return to business as usual (BAU).
- Learn from event and improve the business continuity system.
The safety, health and welfare of kaimahi | employees and students are the most important things to consider when deciding on your response.
We are here to support you if you did need to activate your BCP.
Things to consider when preparing a BCP#
Our shared aim#
To provide students with a nutritious lunch every school day. Wherever possible, aim to continue to serve these lunches to support students as part of business continuity planning.
Agreements#
Your signed agreement contains service key performance indicators and deliverables and is a great starting point for developing your plan.
Identify risks#
Your shared purpose and agreements could be used to identify all possible risks that may prevent you from being able to meet these. They could include health and safety incidents, system failures, natural disasters, and school closures.
Risk mitigation#
For each of the risks, identify how you could minimise the disruption to delivering lunches. This gives you the information to then develop a response plan in case something does unfold and causes a disruption.
Maximum outage#
An important question to ask is how many working days you would manage using emergency reserves or back up supplies without any impact on lunch supply.
Standing responsibilities#
These are actions to take to prepare for if you had to activate your BCP. They include making sure the appropriate insurance is in place, escalation pathways are clear, plans are regularly tested, reviewed and updated.
Communications priorities#
When you become aware of an event that will impact lunch supply, we ask that you communicate with the school(s) or kura and the Ministry. Working together on your plans ensures everyone is clear on what needs to happen if activated.
Alternatives and support#
Are there other production locations you could use, or alternative suppliers that could help if your supply chain was impacted? Your local knowledge and connections can be really helpful.
Backup solutions could look like:
- preparing meals ahead of time
- ordering in some shelf stable meals as emergency reserves
- clearly labelling your prepared meals with exact defrosting and cooking instructions
- having appropriate insurance to cover things like lost ingredients if the freezer were to fail
- connecting locally to find an alternative cooking facility
- exploring alternative food storage solutions should your onsite facilities fail
- being able to access an emergency generator and fuel if power was lost
- having clean water reserves onsite
- having a plan to safely re-distribute school lunches if the school had to close (if feasible), in accordance with your FCP.
Download the business continuity plan (BCP).
Download this page in Te Reo Māori.
