Canteen and catering services

Tender description

The purpose of publishing this PIN (Prior Information Notice) is to alert potential bidders of a Market Engagement Event, which is to take place on 16.1.2017 in Leeds between 9:00 and 12:00 hours. The University of Leeds is undertaking a procurement exercise to seek supplier views and feedback, on how best to deliver the provision of a café and catering services for tenants and visitors in our major brand new purpose–built innovation centre named Nexus, due to open in September 2018. What is Nexus? A step change in how the University collaborates with business enabled by new ways of working and a brand new purpose-built 40m GBP, 10,000 m² innovation centre, sited at a new key southern, city-side gateway to our campus. Fuelled by a year-round programme of events and activities, we want Nexus to become the hub of a vibrant innovation community meeting the needs of physical and virtual tenant businesses as well as ad hoc business users. The community will comprise: Early stage and high growth businesses. Corporate R&D and new product development teams University professional services. Investors and funders of research and innovation. IP lawyers, tax accountants, recruiters, market researchers. Business support agencies and networks. Research staff and partners. Professional bodies. Students and graduates wanting access to professional experience and routes to employment. The facility includes: Rentable office and lab space for up to 60 high growth businesses and corporate R&D teams. A triple-height atrium with AV exhibition space and adjacent to this: — 120-seat lecture theatre Flexible seminar space (140-person total) Business lounge Café Semi-private and open space for work and collaboration. 12 meeting rooms ranging in size from 4 to 25 people. More extensive space for collaboration. Base for the University's Research and Innovation Service. Contract requirements – Café A quality, fresh hot and cold grab-and-go café for a professional audience to service 80 covers on the ground floor. Opening hours are Likely to be between 8:00 and 17:00 Monday — Friday. Business Lounge Tea and coffee and snacks for business lounge members via a self-service credenza. Hospitality Events — catering for a programme of daytime and early evening events run on the ground floor. It is estimated that an average of 2 to 3 events per week will be achievable. Servicing Meetings — food and beverage for meeting rooms on the first floor (12 meeting rooms, maximum capacity of any single room 25 people). Serviced from first floor space. Tenants — food and beverage for tenants in their own offices. Customer Profile Core target audience are business professionals; we expect a good level of demand from the internal occupants of the building, supplemented by visitors. An extensive programme of communication and events will attract a wide range of visitors alongside tenant businesses and we anticipate that the building itself will contain c800 people at any one time. The location of the café on the ground floor, off the ‘Boulevard’ and new public realm from Woodhouse Lane means we do anticipate high footfall providing additional grab-and-go potential at peak times. Timescales Construction for the building begins in January 2017 and complete in September 2018. Format of the day Depending on the interest we will run a series of presentations and Q&A sessions between the hours of 9:00 — 12:00 noon. This will allow potential suppliers to gain a greater understanding of the University's needs, help in evolving the specification and understand the likely timescales for development of the project and procurement. A Market Sounding Questionnaire will be issued to seek views from potential suppliers as to how the specification might be met. Interested parties wishing to take part in this Market Consultation are required to register as soon as possible on the University of Leeds tendering portal; https://in-tendhost.co.uk/universityofleeds/aspx/Home and to complete the brief Supplier Market Consultation Questionnaire. Completed Supplier Market Consultation Questionnaires should be submitted via this portal no later than noon on 9.1.2017. Full details of the Market engagement day will follow in due course. Participation or non-participation in the Market Consultation Exercise will in no way effect the outcome of any future formal procurement process.