An “upfront deposit” covering an agreed number of meals was paid to Compass when the contract was signed.

The ministry told BusinessDesk it has not given any financial or non-financial guarantee in support of Compass buying Libelle. 4/4

The ministry said it had no concerns around the financial viability of the company when it was awarded the contract.

It ran Centrix business credit checks as part of preliminary financial due diligence on Libelle, which did not raise any red flags. 3/4

The revelation comes as an initial liquidators’ report into the failed school-lunch provider estimate $14.3 million as owing with the company “clearly insolvent”, when liquidators started their work. 2/4

Definitely not as good as S1 and 2. Characters so unlikeable it's hard to keep interest. But still worth watching :-).

Thanks Justin!

My school uses Subway & Pita Pit for (parent-bought) school lunches, and it’s pretty expensive. Don’t get much for $10. Still MUCH nicer than the Compass meals, and would probably be cheaper if done en masse.

More in the article about the procurment process, including an interview with an expert in the matter, and a raft of complaints received by the Ombudsman, ComCom and the Auditor General.
businessdesk.co.nz/article/poli...

The same Thursday evening, Libelle's director Jonanes Tietze first approached Deloitte liquidators to raise insolvency concerns.

Using Watties microwavable meals was another solution the collective found to plug the gaps. BD understands Libelle had been stockpiling the meals, until the Ministry of Education told the company on Thursday to stop serving them after a student received second degree burns.

- The School Lunch Collective has been outsourcing a significant portion of meals. Pita Pit is one of the companies plugging the gaps, and is charging the collective $4.50 a meal, BD understands. Unclear who paid for this, but it could have been Libelle, to make up for its production shortfalls.

- Pita Pit and Subway have a good track record in the programme and the infrastructure in place to deliver through franchisees around the country (unlike Compass and Libelle, whose poor track record prompted officials to raise concerns when they learned they were short listed to win the contract).