What do commercial kitchens do about butter and refrigeration?

[DayDate]

I work in a very small specialist school that supports some of the most vulnerable children in our county.

We focus as much of life skills and emotional wellbeing as on academic achievement. As part of this we aim to eat "family" meals at lunchtime and the children get quite a lot of input into the menus.

One thing that comes up a lot is that they'd like real butter on the bread. This is something we could do, there's not a problem with the cost but the kitchen staff say they can't because the butter needs to be kept in the fridge and therefore won't spread.

I understand there are limits for how long refrigerated food can be kept out for, but at home I keep butter out of the fridge routinely.

Is there a way around this whilst still meeting food safety standards?

Could you get her small pats of butter you get with scones etc and keep them in the fridge and take out what you need an hour or so before
yup need them!

Would Anchor spreadable be close enough?

Lurpak spreadable butter is lovely.

Small blocks of butter that will soften in time it takes to get everything out?

Microwave it for 10sec (check the power of your microwave first) to soften - I used to do this when we lived somewhere HOT - butter lived in the fridge, but was softened before use.

indevidual packets or butter pots* with enough for each table taken out of the fridge just before service, enough to soften.

*In hotels etc large amounts of butter are softened slightly then dispensed into smaller pots and fridged til needed.

Can't it just be taken out of the fridge in the morning?

I leave my butter out all the time but I don't need a hygiene certificate:)

Spreadable butters do not taste the same.

It seems a strange thing to get hung up about though!

Kerrygold softer butter is pure butter, not a blend of butter and oil like the other spreadables.

I don't really get the problem though - if you take the butter out in the morning, isn't it soft enough by the time you need it? I don't think it needs to be kept refrigerated at all times. If you have a rough idea how much you will get through at lunchtime, you could just get that amount out.

I've also microwaved it briefly to soften it up.

They should just take out enough for lunch in the morning.

Use smaller blocks and leave them out in plastic butter dishes. They won't hang around for long enough to go rancid, surely?

Could they make old school butter curls?
Because they're small, they come to room temperature easily.

Nb this might be too restaurant-like for your setting.

Kitchen staff don't arrive until about 1.5 hours before lunch and the first thing they do is snack, often toast or crumpets, so no, not enough time to get it out in the morning.

Someone else could be tasked with doing it but that would likely be me and I'll have days when I called away or otherwise forget!

Some ideas to pass on though, thank you

Dont they use butter for toast and crumpets?

How long does it take to get a dish out of the fridge??

Agree, cut the butter into blocks per table in advance, smaller if poss, and they will come to room temperature more quickly.

@Palavah

Dont they use butter for toast and crumpets?

How long does it take to get a dish out of the fridge??

Agree, cut the butter into blocks per table in advance, smaller if poss, and they will come to room temperature more quickly.

No they use "spread" which is the reason for the question.

It's not how long it takes to get the butter out, it's how long it takes to soften.

Kitchen staff don't arrive until about 1.5 hours before lunch and the first thing they do is snack, often toast or crumpets, so no, not enough time to get it out in the morning.

Curls or microwaving it are probably the answers then. Slicing it thinly with a sharp knife would probably work too

No reason at all
Why they cannot microwave it to soften