Almost all elementary schools in Austria now offer lunch to their pupils. However, they rarely have influence over the menu, as the food is usually delivered from outside. Nearly every second school also lacks a dedicated dining room, meaning meals are eaten in classrooms or, in the worst case, in hallways or workshops. This is shown in the first school meal report on elementary schools by the preventive medicine institute SIPCAN in Salzburg.
Every second elementary school child in Austria—about 190,000 children—attends afternoon care and is therefore registered for lunch at school. But what ends up on the plate is rarely decided within the school itself: only one in 25 schools has the headmaster responsible for the menu, and in one in five schools it is the leisure educators. Almost as often (18 percent), the restaurant delivering the meals sets the menu itself. “We were also shocked that in 60 percent of schools only one main course is offered. What happens to children who, for example, don’t eat meat?” asked study coordinator Manuel Schätzer in an interview with APA.
There are also major differences among food suppliers. In Vienna, nine out of ten elementary schools are supplied by external caterers (30 percent nationwide), while in Lower Austria and Burgenland almost every second school (46 and 44 percent) gets lunch from a local inn. “I even saw a case where the village pizzeria delivered the meals because they wanted to keep the value creation in town. So children got pizza or fried food,” said Schätzer. But delivery from the local retirement home is not always ideal either. “In one school there was a sweet dish as the main course every second day, and dessert was also sweet—for example, Kaiserschmarrn followed by cake,” said the nutrition scientist.
The study also recorded how much time children have for lunch. On average, they have about 42 minutes (including waiting time in line), but in Vienna it has to be much quicker: here lunch lasts an average of only 34 minutes.
The biggest wish of principals is improved facilities: almost every second school (44 percent) has no dining hall of its own. “In the worst case, meals are eaten in the workshop or in the hallway,” Schätzer said. There are also gaps in equipment in general, such as trays or cutlery. One in three schools also requested more staff support.
And SIPCAN’s health recommendations? “What matters most is where and how the food is prepared. Meals should be as child-appropriate as possible,” said Schätzer. He added that expert help should also be sought, and both leisure educators and principals should receive more support.
According to SIPCAN, this school meal report is the first nationwide study of school catering at Austrian elementary schools. Between April and June 2025, 351 standardized telephone interviews were conducted with elementary school principals. Schools were selected based on a stratified random sample weighted by federal state and urban/rural distribution. The representative results allow generalized statements for the roughly 3,010 elementary schools. SIPCAN was supported by the caterer Menü-Manufaktur, which supplies around 300 kindergartens, after-school care centers, and schools under the Goldmenü brand. According to Schätzer, however, the study was carried out without any influence from the company.
