We have over 20 years experience in the education catering sector and with a highly experienced management team, we provide a complete range of services to assist schools, academies and MATs across the country.

Understanding that there are unique challenges when it comes to running a profitable catering operation within a Multi Academy Trust, our team of industry experts have come up with 5 key considerations that MATs should be asking about their catering operation. 

1. Are we compliant? +

When it comes to procurement, can you provide full traceability of products and due diligence for your food contracts? In terms of kitchen legislation, compliance to health and safety standards such as HACCP and COSHH will ensure the highest levels of food safety.

2. Are all of the schools in our Multi Academy Trust on the same pricing structure? +

Using a compliant framework for all of your academies ensures that prices and budgets are under control which will enable you to have a profitable catering service.

3. Do we have true visibility? +

Investing in services that provide peace of mind and transparency will lead you to make informed decisions. These services will provide solutions such as:

  • Consolidated invoicing
  • Full reporting on product and spend analysis
  • KPI reports from suppliers

4. Are we getting the best value? +

Whether you have outsourced your catering or not, an independent benchmarking exercise on price can provide you with valuable information if you are considering not to renew your contract and take your catering inhouse.

5. Do we have some level of price stability? +

To have greater control over your school budget, you need to have fixed pricing periods where you know how much you are paying and for how long, without any random fluctuations.

If you can answer YES to all 5 questions, then you are on your way to becoming a Multi Academy Trust with a profitable catering business.

If you answered NO to any one of these questions, get in touch with us and find out how we can take your Multi Academy Trust catering operations to the next level.

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Compliant Food Contracts

Self Managed Catering:

Contracts such as groceries and frozen foods tend to be the two main areas that exceed catering budgets and their spend thresholds. Therefore, you should be practicing a competitive tendering exercise or using legally tendered, compliant contract frameworks.

Legally tendered contracts not only ensure compliancy for schools but offer your catering operation a certain level of protection. This is because compliant food contracts provide you with full traceability of product and due diligence ensuring suppliers and manufacturers have the highest technical accreditations.

External Catering Provider:

Although using an external provider for the catering operations, many schools undertake independent audits to ensure your provider is performing the required specification and conforming to current food legislation.

Dukefield Foodservice has a range of packages to help with this. Find out more under our Catering Support Services section.

Pricing

Self Managed Catering:

The price you are paying for your food contracts is an important factor when it comes to profitability. Not only do you need food contracts that deliver sustainable products, but more importantly, all of your agreements need two important elements:

  1. All of the schools within your Multi-Academy Trust should be paying the same price across the board.

  2. Your agreements need to have some form of pricing stability, where possible in these challenging times, eliminating the risk of random price fluctuations .

Getting these two factors correct enables you to effectively plan a stable budget for your catering operation.

External Catering Provider:

Whether you have agreements in place for your food contracts or employ and external catering provider, have you benchmarked your costs?

Regardless of whether you are legally tied into a contract, an independent pricing benchmarking exercise can provide you with valuable information on areas you could potentially make savings.

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Consolidated Invoicing

Visibility is important when it comes to spend analysis and identifying potential areas for savings.

For a MAT, the value of consolidated invoices can never be underestimated. Despite the number of schools within your MAT, consolidating your bill means that you reduce paperwork and amount of time spent across all schools within the MAT.

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Contact us

Dukefield Foodservice
Parkside House, 167 Chorley New Road, Bolton, BL1 4RA
Tel: +44 (0) 1204 374 062
Email: info@dukefieldfood.com

Dukefield Foodservice Taking the worry out of catering.