School meals company The Lunch Bag to add 240 full-time jobs in Tipperary

The move is part of a €7.5m expansion which will also see the creation of 450 part-time jobs. 

Ray Nangle, chief executive of The Lunch Bag with managing director Ger Killian. 

Tipperary-based school meals company The Lunch Bag has announced a €7.5m expansion adding 240 full-time jobs and 450 part-time jobs which will triple its current size. 

The additional investment will see the company increase production to 100,000 hot meals per day delivered to schools across the country. It currently serves 35,000 hot meals a day.

The 240 full-time roles will be based in its Nenagh facility and will mostly comprise general operators but also human resources positions, admin, warehouse, logistics staff, and van drivers.

The 450 part-time roles will operate the service daily in the schools and will be based around the country. These positions operate within school hours and per the school calendar.

The investment is necessitated by the expansion of the Government’s Hot School Meals scheme, which is to be extended to a further 900 primary schools following the budget earlier this month.

The Lunch Bag is the largest provider of school lunches to primary schools in the country. It was founded in 2019 by Ray Nangle and Ger Killian.

Mr Nangle, chief executive of The Lunch Bag, said it is an "incredibly exciting time” for the business as it aims to ensure that a minimum of 65,000 children every day will have hot and healthy meals in their schools.

The company currently delivers cold lunches to over 600 schools, 315 of which are among the 900 schools set to transition to hot meals next year.

As part of its expansion, the company has expedited expansion of its current 25,000sq ft premises at the Lisbunny Industrial Estate with works commencing on a 50,000sq ft extension this month to accommodate additional production lines.