When the Scottish Parliament tendered for a Catering Consultant in 2009 we were successful in winning the tender for a four year period and assisted with their out-sourced tendering process, on-going monitoring and ad-hoc advice. The catering services provided are now of a very high standard and there is no longer a requirement for an external Catering Consultant.
We have worked within single sites, with client organisations that have multi locations based in the same city and where there are multiple locations across Scotland. We have been involved on several occasions where organisations are moving to new purpose built facilities with state of the art catering outlets.
Catering Services Review
Our recommended starting point is a thorough review of services and requirements. Clients may not be sure of the best options for their particular situation. Several days will be spent on location viewing the services, meeting with stakeholders and information gathering. A detailed report will follow with an in-depth qualitative and financial review covering all aspects of service delivery including a full set of option appraisals on the future management of the catering services. Options for in-house delivery, out-sourcing and an analysis of existing services will all be included.
Financial Health Check
We will carry out a financial health check against known industry benchmarks to determine if an in-house operation is as efficient as it can be or if the incumbent contractor is providing value for money. We will review a contractor’s performance against their financial obligations. We will also provide the basis for accurate financial forecasting.
Qualitative Audit / Contract Monitoring
On average our initial audits provide a ready made action plan which will deliver a 20% increase in qualitative performance for all types of service provision. A number of our university clients have utilised ICC to formalise SLAs and KPIs within their catering services and our auditing forms a key element of the on-going management of their catering services.
Market Testing / Tender Facilitation
Our wide ranging experience in the sector has allowed us to evaluate numerous tender responses and we have never had a challenge from an unsuccessful tenderer. By working with client procurement and legal teams and ensuring that bidders are aware of the requirements and expectations, the responses we receive tend to be realistic, achievable and fully compliant which all reduce evaluation time.
Non Catering Services
With the satisfactory outcomes that we have delivered to our Clients within their catering services, several organisations have engaged our services to review, realign or tender their cleaning services, soft services packages and full facilities services. On a number of occasions we have tendered combined catering and cleaning services contracts on behalf of our clients within the Business & Industry sector.