Healthy diets arguably offer the greatest potential for improving the health of the population. 1 Improving the nutritional intake of children is a priority as eating habits are established in childhood and behaviours adopted in childhood transcend into adult life. 2 The consumption of a poor diet during childhood and adolescence leads to poor health outcomes. 3 A range of social and environmental issues are recognised as contributing to children's dietary intake, including the school food environment. School canteens in Australia offer food services within schools being a key part of the school food environment. 4 Influencing the food provided in school canteens offers a potential strategy to improve children's nutritional intake and health outcomes. [5][6][7][8] While governments across the world have implemented guidelines and policy to support improving the quality and nutrition in schools, compliance to this guidance and policy remains low. 9,10 Little is known about what makes for success in supporting school canteens.