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How to review your catering services contract

Blog
The YPO Team
20 Jul 2022

We understand that setting up a catering service for your school or trust is a top priority, but we also know that it can be complicated if you've never done it before. We've put together a few handy tips and best practices for you to consider when putting a contract in place and choosing the right supplier.

Timescales

Give yourself plenty of time when writing your specification:
Before advertising the opportunity, allow yourself enough time to write the specification and to think about your award criteria questions.
Once advertised, allow suppliers sufficient time to complete and upload their submissions.
Once awarded, allow enough time to implement your contract. (This is when your new contract is officially live) for catering services that require TUPE (The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006) allow at least two months.

Specification

Take some time to think about what you need from your catering service, an excellent place to start is by looking at your current catering service. Make sure you include everything you require within your specification.

Consider the following:

Pupil and staff numbers (including Free School Meals)
Kitchen and catering facilities
School opening hours and service delivery times
Department for Education Food School Standards
Skilled and appropriately trained dieticians and chefs
Staff safeguarding check, e.g. Enhanced DBS
Increase uptake of school meals
Innovative and healthy menus
Special dietary requirements
Pre-ordering and online payment systems
Standards to comply with
Cleaning requirements

Award Criteria

Include award criteria relevant to your specification and weight your questions according to the ones most important to you.

Consider:

Method statements on standards
Mobilisation of the contract
Safety of staff and students
References

Your award criteria should add up to 100%, and we recommend including 20% for added value when using the Catering Services DPS. With regards to added value, you can ask suppliers what can they bring to your contract and score their responses as part of your evaluation.

Some examples could include:

Delivering classroom workshops
Providing educational cookery shows
Themed food days
Promotions
Parents eat free
Herb gardens on site
Competitions

Teaching children about where the food on their plates comes from can help promote a healthy relationship with food and start to tackle childhood obesity early on.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Include KPIs which allow you to manage your contract effectively.

Consider:

Audits
Review Meetings
Cleaning standards
Billing

How can YPO help you?

Our 879 Catering Services DPS (Dynamic Purchasing System) is a legally compliant solution for you to choose from when putting your contracts in place that gives you access to a group of pre-approved suppliers. But what if you already have a catering contract in place and wish to include your existing supplier in the renewal process? No problem, as this solution is a DPS, our Education Procurement Team can work with your current supplier to guide them on how to apply to become an approved supplier, and they can join the contract at any time (not just at the end of the contract term), as long as they meet our requirements.

How else can our Education Procurement Team help?

When using our solutions, the education procurement team can help you as much or as little as you like and support you with running a further competition free of charge. Here's an example of some of the support we can offer:

Further competition template and documents
Example specifications and questions
Advertising and managing your further competition through our e-tendering portal
Evaluation templates and notification letters
Notifying suppliers of the outcome
Contract award

Author

The YPO Team

YPO supplies products and services to a wide range of customers including schools, local authorities, charities, emergency services, public sector and other businesses such as nurseries and care homes. YPO are 100% publicly owned, by 13 local authorities, which means the profits made are returned to public sector customers, delivering even better value for money.