Tonight, Compass Group New Zealand confirmed it had agreed to acquire the relevant assets of Libelle Group following its liquidation.
This arrangement remains subject to regulatory and customary approvals.
A statement from Compass Group said: “This acquisition provides confidence and continuity of the Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School Lunches programme, ensuring meal delivery to students across the country continues.”
Compass Group New Zealand will be working with Libelle’s employees regarding ongoing employment arrangements over the coming days.
Paul Harvey, managing director of Compass NZ, added: “Our teams are united in our commitment to providing lunches every school day to tamariki in our communities.
”Since the unexpected announcement on Tuesday, we have ensured continuity of operations, with over 500,000 meals delivered this week and 97.3% delivered on time. This demonstrates how resilient our people are. We are now looking forward, ensuring everyone is supported through this transition.”
Earlier, school tuckshops were closing across the country, with principals encouraging parents to pack lunches for their children after Libelle Group was plunged into liquidation on Tuesday.
The Herald was aware of at least seven schools in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch that have announced their tuckshops would cease operations from today.
In an email to parents on Thursday, Northland’s Kerikeri High School principal Mike Clent said stock in the canteen had effectively run out.
“We anticipate our canteen ceasing all service, possibly from tomorrow, and so we ask that all students bring morning tea and lunch to school until such time as we are able to start offering an onsite canteen service again,” the email read.
“Students will not be given permission to leave the school grounds to purchase food in town during the school day.”
Meanwhile, Ormiston Senior College took to social media, saying it had “no prior notice of this decision”.
“We are now working through a process to secure a new canteen provider, but this will take time. In the meantime, we ask that students bring a packed lunch each day, as food will not be available for purchase at school.”
Principal Tim Botting told the Herald the East Auckland school was expecting to receive a timeline from Libelle Group or its liquidators over the canteen service, but only received an email at 8.20pm Thursday saying it would be scrapped after Friday.
“For it to happen Thursday night has left me struggling to consider how we support the needs of our kids in the upcoming weeks while we look for a new caterer to take over services at the school,” he said.
Botting said the school was looking for short-term solutions and that the process of finding a new tuckshop provider would take up to a month to ensure it meets the needs of all students.
“We’re a creditor as well and so there’s obviously some funds that we’ll have outstanding from their hireage of our facility that we’re likely to miss out on.”
Botting said two Libelle staff members working at the tuckshop were told only last night that Friday would be their final day of employment.
Ormiston Senior College staff had banded together to provide a monetary contribution to the pair to see them through the next week.
“I know it’s business and that’s the way the world is, but it would have been nice to have some consideration for our kids in this situation as well and it’s disappointing that it was done in a very clinical way,” Botting said.
The Herald is also aware Auckland’s Glen Eden Intermediate, Waikato’s Raglan Area School, Wellington’s Rongotai College, Nelson’s Nayland College and Christchurch’s Lincoln High School are among those impacted.
Libelle Group tipped into liquidation after more than 20 years
Robert Campbell and David Webb of Deloitte NZ were appointed on Tuesday as liquidators of Libelle Group, which had been in business for more than 20 years.
Webb earlier confirmed to the Herald just over 500 staff were affected.
“We understand Libelle Group’s director had concerns about the solvency of the business, which is why the company’s shareholders appointed myself and Robert Campbell as liquidators this morning,” Webb told the Herald.
“The liquidators’ focus today has been on supporting the continuity of services that many New Zealand families rely on. The reasons for the appointment of liquidators beyond the director’s concerns around solvency will be part of the liquidators’ review of the business.”
Libelle was contracted by Compass Group NZ – an arm of the multinational catering company – to deliver the school lunches.
Compass Group leads the School Lunch Collective, which was awarded the $85 million annual school lunch contract last year as part of Associate Education Minister David Seymour’s Healthy School Lunches reform.
The new programme only started rolling out to schools in January.
“The liquidators are undertaking a full and urgent review of all of Libelle’s operations, with our immediate focus being working with Libelle’s employees and affected stakeholders to ascertain the way forward, including ensuring students around New Zealand continue to receive their school lunches,” Webb said.
Seymour said the liquidation process would not materially impact the provision of school lunches.
“This is a commercial matter between Compass and Libelle. Compass has assured the ministry that any disruption will be minimised, and the liquidation process will not materially impact the provision of school lunches.
“To ensure the uninterrupted delivery of the school meals provided by Libelle central production kitchens, the Compass Group has told the ministry that it will assume operations during this transition and take responsibility for providing meals every school day.”
Education Minister Erica Stanford and Seymour did not wish to comment on the tuckshop situation.
The Ministry of Education directed all questions to Libelle Group’s liquidators.
Libelle Group liquidators have been approached for comment.
Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.
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