Canteen Self-Service

As of September 2026, the Canteen's self-service project will be in operation: all Secondary students enrolled in the Canteen service will use the new self-service system.
The Canteen service will remain a plate-to-table service for all Nursery and Primary years.

What Kind of Self-Service?

This will not be a free-selection system. Secondary students will queue at one of three serving lines, gathering a tray and tableware, and receive a pre-portioned, ready-made warm main dish served by our canteen staff; similarly to the EU institution canteens or most school canteens across Europe, including EEB1 Uccle and EEB4 Laeken. Students can then select salad, soup, and a dessert, and carry their tray to a seat of their choice.

Why a Self-Service?

The self-service project was approved in principle by the APEEE Ixelles General Assembly in February 2023 (motion 2). In April 2026, an extraordinary General Assembly approved the final implementation plan of this project and the corresponding budget. You can find the minutes of theses assemblies on MyAPEEE.

The current plate-to-table model has reached its limits in our School the Secondary cycle. This self-service model is expected to deliver:

• Better food service: continuous just-in-time preparation means meals are served fresh, with no loss of temperature, texture, or taste.
• More time to eat: eliminating the reset break between sittings gives most classes an estimated 5 to 25 additional minutes of effective eating time.
• Less food waste: production follows demand, reducing end-of-service discard.

As student numbers for Nursery and Primary remain proportionate to the refectory's size, the plate-to-table model continues to work well for those cycles. No change is planned for them at this point in time.

In Practice

Nursery and Primary

What changes

• Some classes may be seated in different areas of the refectory as the layout is adjusted to accommodate the self-service lines.
• Adjusted September menu to all-in-one or similar dishes (e.g. vegetable lasagna). The menu will revert to the regular variety of dishes from October onwards.

What stays the same

• Service remains plate-to-table delivery: meals are prepared and brought to your child's table by our canteen staff
• Classes eat together as a group
• Adult supervision throughout the lunch period

Secondary

Secondary students and canteen staff will be learning new routines together as this system starts up. We ask for patience and goodwill from everyone as we fine-tune the flow and service.
To further facilitate a smoother transition, the September menu will be adjusting its main dishes to help the self-service distribute plates at a fast rate without sacrificing nutrition (e.g. vegetable lasagna). The menu will revert to the regular variety of dishes from October onwards.
We welcome feedback from parents or students at cantine@apeeeixelles.be.

What changes

• Use of trays to carry tableware and food from the serving line to the table
• Three self-service lines instead of dishes brought to the table
• Students are free to sit throughout the refectory after collecting their meal
• Free-flow entry for students after their year-group's allocated entry time
• S3 entry time adjusted to 13:15 to spread the flow of students more evenly (see entrance timetable below)

What stays the same

• Meals are prepared by our staff in controlled portions
• Refills remain available¹
• Vegetarian option remains available (located at the end of the hot dishes section)
• Students are expected to clear their seat and tablespace upon leaving
• Only students enrolled for that day may enter the refectory
• School timetable lunch breaks are unchanged: Period 6 for S1–S4 and S6; Period 7 for S5 and S7.
• Supervision from the School throughout the lunch period

Entrance Timetable

Next Steps

As for all our services, the Canteen WG, and the APEEE Board alongside them, will continuously evaluate the day-to-day proceedings and study any possible changes and improvements to the service.

We welcome any suggestions sent from parents and students to cantine@apeeeixelles.be.

¹ The precise logistics of refills will be confirmed once the system is running and flow patterns are better understood.