Independent Schools

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 at the school 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.

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.

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 sector 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.

Ideal Catering Consultancy has completed several tender processes with our school clients. These have been where the catering services are already provided by a contractor and the contract is due for re-tendering or when the School wishes to out-source their catering services for the first time. The decision to out-source is usually driven by poor financial performance with all the financial risk remaining with the school, poor qualitative standards and staffing issues. Our wide ranging experience in the sector has allowed us to fully evaluate the tender responses. By managing the tendering process in its entirety, liaising with the School Management 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.