How much does it cost to produce your meal at St Luke’s Lunch Club?

The Lunch Club has been a popular service run by St Luke’s Community Centre for over 20 years, providing a nutritious meal for residents aged 55+ who live in the London Borough of Islington. Over the years we have used contractors, which was expensive, but in the past ten years we have run the service in-house to reduce costs, and it is now run by Catering Manager, Maurizio Morelli, and his fabulous team. We thought it would help to give a breakdown of what the lunch costs.

We have all been affected by the escalating costs of food prices and energy bills, but until now we have not increased our prices for Lunch Club for over seven years, providing a subsided meal at a very affordable price. After much consideration and thought, this year we decided to increase the cost of each course of the meal by 50p.

Main course: £4, two courses: £5 (dessert or soup) & three courses: £6.

It’s worth remembering the price you pay for your meal does not cover the cost of staffing, equipment and kitchen maintenance, and that is how it is kept so low. We are proud to cook from scratch using fresh ingredients, but this also costs more and takes more staff time. Even taking into account a small grant from Islington Council the cost for us to serve your meal means that St Luke’s has to subsidise it by £9 per person each day, and that’s just one service we provide among the many activities and events we hold each year at the Centre.

We love welcoming people into the Centre daily for Lunch Club, and hope you enjoy meeting friends and new people in the group as well as a nutritious, freshly-prepared meal.