Table 2 Themes and example quotes relating to themes

Autonomy and informed decisions

“And it’s got to be all about choice, you’ve got to choose. It’s, but then a bit of subconscious influences around, like, putting the healthy stuff closer to you but you’ve got to choose what you want.” A10

“No because if there’s no, like, if there’s no unhealthy stuff wouldn’t people just bring unhealthy stuff from, from, like, home?” A12

“You could, like, almost kind of, like, lie and say, like, that they’re sweet potato chips and then, like, people, like, but it’s actually carrots. And then people end up actually liking it and then they get more.” A13

“I think that there are, you know, there are lots of misconceptions about what makes something healthy and what makes something nutritious. And I think sometimes kids have, you know, bad ideas, they’ve been told things that are incorrect about nutrition.” C2

“They’d see straight through it [nudge] and wouldn’t buy it.” C1

Value

“You could just buy the cakes rather than wasting money on, like, a salad.” A11

“Well kids love them [fruit] for 10p. They’re not gonna pay 25p for it but they’ll pay 10p. And I’m like… if I give fruit away with every meal then maybe they would eat healthier in that respect.” C1

Presentation

“I think if, like the healthy food looked nicer then people would, like, give it a try.” A9

“If you’re gonna buy something you should know what’s inside and you should have a clear view on it.” A7

n/a

Adolescents’ taste preferences and valuing of predictability

“When they taste nice it helps because you just kind of like you want to eat it, you’re not eating it ‘cause you have to” A14

“You know, like, if you bring something from home it’s something you like. 'Cause you don’t know necessarily what you’re gonna get in the canteen. But you know what you’re gonna bring in from home.” A10

“[Pupils] aren’t particularly interested in the nutritional value of what they’re eating, it’s more about is it food that they want to enjoy?…” S5

“It [a healthy lunch] means that they, that the children eat, because it doesn’t matter how healthy and nutritious I make something, if they don’t eat it it’s not nutritious because they’re not eating it.” C2

Lunchtime is about more than just food

“I think, people want to get into the canteen, have their, like, get their food and then go out so they can have an actual lunchtime. And if they walk in and pasta and the fruit is next to them, or whatever, the healthy food is next to them, I think they’ll be more inclined to go for that”. A10

“One, they don’t want to sit down. It depends on what their friends are doing as well. They don’t want to miss out on their social time. They don’t want to miss out in case they go up, some of their friends go up to the fields and they start a game of football and they’re going to be late and they’re going to miss out on half of the game. I think, I think time is a, is a lot to do with them not eating a healthy meal.” S4

Canteen-based barriers to a healthy school lunch

“One, it’s like really busy and there’s like loads of people just getting their food. Like it’s kind of cramped sometimes.” A8

“…now our canteen is, like, people don’t, aren’t really responsible. And say if, like, there’ll probably be theft. And then setting up café style and, like, add toppings to your salad, that’ll probably just get really messy and people will be really careless.” A1

“Right now, those dining halls are so crammed and so small, that’s why the kids won’t eat in there, that’s why they want to grab and go and go to the next thing. They don’t have the time to sit and eat and they don’t have an environment that they want to sit and eat in..” C2

“it is an ongoing concern that students who come to school and will, will take food, and it’s not just because I think they’re, they’re, you know, they’re inherently wanting to thieve, I think it’s just that they, they either lack the self-regulation and/or they’re hungry.” S5

“The problem is that you try to do it, you take them away [‘treat’ foods], then the kids don’t buy anything and so therefore they, we lose money and it’s not viable and, you know” C2

Competing influences

“Because then you’ve got people surrounding you as well with, like, again, food from the canteen. They will have, like, sometimes they’ll have less healthier snacks than you, and then it’ll make you feel like, “Okay, maybe I should have this ‘cause everyone else has it.” And it’ll kind of, like, make you, like, not want to be as healthy.” A4

“The new guidelines aren’t like that, so they’re interpretative, so, you know, I might interpret them slightly differently than someone else, and they might interpret them slightly different to someone else. And then we all get told off by the same person who’s interpreted them slightly differently. And at the moment there’s no regulation and there’s no one to give the definitive interpretation of those.” C2