Rising lunch costs on the menu as French students return to school
France’s 12 million students head back to school this Thursday, starting an academic year against a background of soaring inflation and rising costs that are affecting many aspects of life, including school lunches.
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The French association of mayors has warned that the cost of school lunches could increase 5 to 10 percent this year, compared to 2021. But that does not mean that students will necessarily see a big price hike.
About 8.5 million French children aged 3-17 eat in school canteens each week.
Lunch at school is optional, and students can go home or go out to eat. But the majority of families choose to pay for a lunch plan to have their children eat at school – multi-course meals, with a starter, a main dish, often cheese and fruit or dessert.
Like everything these days, the cost of producing those meals is going up, with inflation hitting energy prices as well as basic food items.
Lunch prices are negotiated at the start of each school year between the public institutions that serve them and those who produce the meals.
Some 40 percent of school lunches in France are prepared by private catering companies (the largest of which is Sodexo), which have been warning for months that their costs are going up.
They have been pushing to raise their prices by 7 percent, while cities have agreed to 4 percent, on average, according to the National Union for Institutional Catering.
Negotiations
Cities provide lunches for preschool and primary schools, while departments manage middle schools and regions manage high schools.
Each entity sets its own prices – negotiating with the companies, or sourcing their own ingredients – so price increases vary, even as the cost of food represents just 30 percent of the cost of a meal at school, especially for younger children who benefit from childcare during the two-hour lunch break.
Many cities, including Paris, but also Dunkerque or Libourne, have announced that they will cover any price increases and not pass them on to students and their families.
The Ile-de-France region, which manages high schools in Paris and surrounding cities, has announced its prices will not increase this school year and it will absorb the additional cost of 4 million euros.
Others are passing on the price increases, or splitting the difference. About half of cities have tiered pricing based on income, and some are considering raising the cost of lunch only for the most well-off households.
Cutting portions?
A few cities are considering modifying what is on offer, though reducing portion sizes is controversial, as school lunch is often the only full, balanced meal of the day for some students.
The town of Caudebec-lès-Elbeuf, in Brittany, has decided – with the approval of parents – to remove one course of the meal each day, either a starter, cheese or desert.
The decision means the prices can remain the same, while allowing the city to absorb a 32,000 euro increase. It also addresses food waste, another issue in school canteens, which has an effect on prices.
The new Nupes leftist political alliance has seized the opportunity to introduce draft legislation that would guarantee free lunches as part of a constitutional right to free education, and would also cover transport, school outings and even school supplies.
The bill, which would cost the state 7.9 billion euros a year, is a statement of principle about the role of the government in the face of rapidly increasing costs.
Four euros a year
Ultimately, while it is causing a headache for many cities across France, the rise in the cost of school lunches is relatively small for the students themselves.
A four percent increase is large, proportionally, but if someone pays three euros for lunch every school day, the increase means 12 cents per meal, or four euros a year, for a 36-week school year.
A larger concern is to keep families committed to sending their kids to school lunch, especially those at the top of the income scale.
More demand means continued support for systems in place, which will be threatened by perceived price increases or a decline in quality.
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