Thousands of children do go to school without lunches, but it appears not as many as Eat My Lunch has been claiming.

Social enterprise Eat My Lunch has dramatically cut its claims of the number of children who go to school without lunch every day.

Eat My Lunch is a privately-owned business which sells luxury lunches, with prices beginning at $12.95, to people on the promise that for each lunch sold, Eat My Lunch will deliver a lunch to a needy child in school.

But following a Stuff investigation into social enterprises, Eat My Lunch has dropped its claim that 290,000 children went to school every day without lunch.

The claim appeared to overstate the number of hungry children by around 240,000, but the company is blaming that on a "typo".

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On Friday Eat My Lunch's website claimed: "1 in 4 Kiwi kids (approx. 290,000) live in poverty and go to school without lunch every day."

By Monday, after Stuff revealed the true number was far lower, Eat My Lunch altered its claim to: "1 in 4 Kiwi kids (approx. 290,000) live in poverty and thousands go to school without lunch every day.)

Lisa King, founder of Eat My Lunch, responded through a joint written statement with Foodstuffs North Island's chief executive Chris Quin: "Eat My Lunch has just corrected a typo on our website which makes it clear what we are targeting. Unfortunately the word 'thousands' was missing."

SCREENSHOT Eat My Lunch claimed 290,000 children went to school without lunch every day. Experts rubbished the claim.

Official figures show there were 290,000 children in households in income poverty, living on less than 60 per cent of the median income.

STUFF After Stuff exposed Eat My Lunch's claim of 290,000 children going to school every day without lunch as being false, the business altered the claim. It now says "thousands" go to school without lunch every day.

But a spokesperson for the Children's Commissioner, Chris Nichol, said of those 290,000 children experiencing a tough upbringing, around 134,000 were suffering from "material hardship", where they are missing out on things every person should have.

The list includes: A meal with meat, fish or chicken at least every second day, two pairs of shoes in good repair, and suitable clothes for important, or special occasions.

An unknown portion of those children in material hardship go to school one or more times a week without lunch.

Julie Chapman from KidsCan estimates the number that go without lunch one or more times a week is around 55,000.

Food availability in poorer households was variable, she said, with parents doing their best, but running out of food at points during the week.

In lower-decile schools where KidsCan works, on average 22 per cent of children need lunches during a week, though individual children often don't need them every day.

King and Quin rebuffed calls for Eat My Lunch to be transparent like charities, which are required by law to publish financial statements showing how much of the money they receive goes towards the cause they are seeking to help.

"Sadly, rather than pulling together to address social ills, there are now some organisations and pundits targeting Eat My Lunch – this detracts from resolving real-world issues in a real-world way," King and Quin said.

Quin said: "Instead of applauding the fact that Eat My Lunch has built a successful business and had a great impact on thousands of kids, it feels there are people who want to pull the team down. This type of attitude will only serve to discourage others from setting up social businesses that not only stack up with investors but do good along the way."

King said: "Eat My Lunch sees hunger as something which needs addressing and has developed a simple and sustainable way to address this. Children with full tummies, thanks to a nutritious, balanced lunch, are better placed to learn and reach their full potential – and we are pleased to have provided over 870,000 lunches to date."

The statement said Eat My Lunch was not obliged to share its financial details like charities, but said: "Rest assured the CEO's salary is significantly below other private enterprises and in most cases, the executive salaries of various charitable organisations."

CAMERON BURNELL/STUFF Lisa King founded Eat My Lunch, which says it has given over 870,000 lunches to needy children.

There are some who believe that social enterprises like Eat My Lunch should be as transparent as the charities which they compete against.

Professor of Ethics and Sustainability Leadership Marjo Lips-Wiersma from Auckland University of Technology believes any business calling itself a social enterprise should tell consumers some key information to justify their claim, including publishing financial accounts, and revealing salaries (especially of the chief executive) and other expenditure.

Social Enterprise is on the rise in New Zealand, but New Zealand is increasingly looking out-of-step with countries like Britain and United States when it comes to the transparency required of social enterprise overseas. Social enterprise legal specialist Steven Moe believes it's time to create a transparent legal entity that is neither a charity, nor a full limited liability company.