Case History
Leading National Contract Caterer
With a diverse portfolio of catering interests ranging from prestigious tourist attractions, conferences and banqueting to traditional contract catering and events management, our client is one of the UK's busiest and most successful multi-site catering providers. But running, let alone expanding, a business of such complexity demands expert controls and the tight management of reporting systems.
When, six years ago, our client asked us to explore whether its contract catering division might benefit from a more co-ordinated procurement approach, we recognised the sensitivity of persuading individual chefs to stop dealing through a host of preferred local suppliers, and subscribing instead to a central purchasing system.
Initial resistance by some chefs and catering managers was soon overcome once we started to demonstrate that central procurement of catering consumables, and particularly fresh produce, meats and fish, would not compromise the quality of their catering provision or jeopardise customer relations.
More importantly for the company as a whole, our client was quick to recognise that the new information reporting system now in place for its contract catering division had considerable cost and efficiency savings implications for the rest of the business.
With the basis for a strategic partnership now established, we were able to start work on the introduction of a gradual development and improvement programme designed to significantly increase overall productivity and performance across all divisions of the client company's busy portfolio.
The business solutions we introduced consisted, essentially, of three elements.
- • The development of a suite of management reports fed from our central database, enabling our client's management team to improve both financial decision making and qualitative performance at local outlet level.
- • Our management of a hand-picked purchasing consortia at local level that meets all our client's catering consumable and non-consumable requirements.
- • The introduction of an internal website that carries key information in respect of company policy, recipes, supplier nominations & range offerings, standard company returns and special offers, and that links both our client's multi-site operations and our central support team.
We now oversee and manage a multi million pound spend. The partnership has enabled us to continue to grow our reputation as one of the UK's most innovative providers of modern buying solutions. For our client, the partnership has resulted in improved management controls and information, increased margins; better staff morale and retention; consistency of offer at local sites and a solid foundation for growing their business into the future.
Acquire shows how partnership is the key to improved performance...