School catering services

Tender description

The successful Supplier will be required to provide catering services at The UCL Academy. The UCL Academy is a secondary school with circa 1050 pupils between the age of 11-18. The Academy is located in Camden, London and sponsored by University College London (UCL). It opened in September 2012 with 180 students in Year 7 and recently reached full capacity. Sponsored by London’s global university and research institution (UCL) and housed in a unique and bespoke facility in Camden, The UCL Academy is a highly regarded secondary school with a vision of educating global citizens with the confidence, collaborative skills, and aspirations to make a difference. The Academy is organised around five Houses (Orion, Cygnus, Equuleus, Vela and Lyra) with every student and member of Academy staff belonging to a House. Each House has its own dedicated canteen servery area which are supplied will meals and products from an onsite central production kitchen. Basis of Contract: The Client wishes to participate in a tender process with the intention of appointing a Supplier to deliver the catering and hospitality services at the Academy. The contract will at the start of the 2018/19 academic year on a “cost-plus” with fixed guaranteed lines on food and labour costs. Suppliers should note that the contract currently operates to a nil-operating subsidy basis. Objectives: Academy's Aims: The Academy’s catering service is intended to provide the very best quality and value to its pupils and the school meals service is considered an integral aspect of the overall academy “household” experience. The governing body is seeking a contractual relationship with its chosen provider that will influence future developments to maintain and improve the quality and value of catering services. Whilst this is a contracted service, the Client is keen to create a “One Team” culture and the abilities demonstrated by the Suppliers to harmonise with this ethos whilst meeting the Client’s “Core Objectives” will have a significant bearing on the chosen organisation. Core Objectives: The Client’s overarching objectives are as follows: 1) provide a high quality, fresh and environmentally sustainable food service; 2) support a whole academy approach to healthy eating, special diets and cultural religious needs; 3) through marketing and creative menus, encourage maximum student uptake across all services; 4) ensure the speed and efficiency of the lunch service allows for all students to enjoy a meal in the allotted lunch period; 5) provide a cost effective and value for money catering service. The appointed Supplier will have significant experience of delivering quality catering services within secondary school premises and should have suitable experience and expertise of successfully increasing pupil meal uptake and lunchtime sales growth. With the experience of successfully managing the TUPE process, the Supplier should ideally have a strong operational base in London, together with an ambition and compelling attitude towards forging a congenial partnership with the school’s Leadership Team that stimulates a joint determination to achieve success. Ultimately it is important that the Supplier can demonstrate integrity with an ability to manage an efficient catering service through the application of best practice and innovation and as a result will be expected to deliver sustainable quality and “best value” to the school.