Most food and nutrition-based programs for the school setting cease implementation within two years. (1, 2) This phenomenon is largely due to a lack of sustained external funding, and unsupportive socio-political contexts, thus highlighting the necessity to explore alternative models that promote financial sustainability. (1, 2) Therefore, this scoping review aimed to investigate what business models have been applied to educational settings that deliver on food and nutrition-based outcomes. Scoping review methodology was used with cross-verification with online sources on Google in 2024 to review currency of information. Eight databases were searched (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cinahl, Social Science Database, Sociological Abstracts, Business Source Complete, ABI/Inform Collection) in November 2023. The descriptive factors of the social enterprises’ business structure, target population, customer base and financial structure were extracted. A narrative synthesis, using a taxonomy, was conducted to determine the social enterprises’ operational model and key features. Five food and nutrition-based social enterprises were identified through case studies. Three were based in the United States of America (Everytable (3) , Rebel Ventures (4) , and Revolution Foods (5) ), one in New Zealand (Eat My Lunch (6) ) and one in Israel (Al Sanabel (7) ). Three operated a targeted customer service model, selling healthy meals or snacks within educational settings and to other institutions or food retailers. One used a social business model (using the funds generated from corporate catering for providing free school meals) and the other used a combined employment and social business model (employing women to create school meals). The average years of operation of included social enterprises was 11 years (not inclusive of Al Sanabel since its operation in 2024 could not be verified). Targeted customer service, social business and employment models can help to deliver on food and nutrition-based outcomes for educational environments, whilst generating profit to enable self-sufficiency. However, more robust formal evaluations of education-based food and nutrition-based social enterprises are warranted that surpass case studies. Policy makers and program implementers are encouraged to consider social enterprises in public health agendas and to embed design thinking within program development.
Fathi et al. (Fri,) studied this question.