We have unrivalled experience and knowledge within this sector. Prior to the Scottish FE Colleges mergers in 2013 we had worked with over half of the 30 colleges in Scotland to develop and enhance their catering services. This included several new builds with excellent catering facilities. Subsequently we have worked with North East Scotland College, West College Scotland, New College Lanarkshire, Fife College and City of Glasgow College. We have regularly worked alongside APUC as part of the Procurement Team within this sector.

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, both staff and students, 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.

Key Fact: Ideal Catering Consultancy has conducted full reviews at over 15 Scottish FE Colleges which have achieved improvements in the quality of services provided and financial performance.

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.

Key Fact: Following one financial health check the incumbent contractor reduced their operating subsidy by over 40% to enable their contract extension option to be considered by the client team.

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.

Key Fact: Normally a qualitative audit is conducted one per term within the initial year. Following this period the audits will be scoring over 85% and therefore only an annual audit is required

Market Testing / Tender Facilitation
Ideal Catering Consultancy has completed over 20 OJEU compliant tender processes within the sector and we have never had a challenge from an unsuccessful tenderer. We have evaluated over 120 tender responses providing us with exceptional knowledge of the sector. 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.

Key Fact: Ideal Catering Consultancy has completed catering services tenders with one specific college on three separate occasions to date.

Non Catering Services
Following on from the satisfactory outcomes that we have delivered to our clients in the college sector, ICC has worked with several client organisations to improve the financial and qualitative performance of their soft services such as cleaning, security and maintenance. Our experience in this and other sectors led us to facilitating combined catering and cleaning contracts within six FE Colleges. We have also facilitated the full Facilities Management services tender process within two Scottish Colleges.

Key Fact: Over 10 of our college catering services Clients have then asked us to assist them with their cleaning services, soft services or facilities management provision.