Wolverhampton Girls' High School ~ Catering Tender

The successful Supplier will be required to provide Catering services for Wolverhampton Girls' High School.

We have a long and established history of providing outstanding education for girls for over 100 years. The school’s motto: Ludus Supra Praemium, emphasises the value of taking part as a member of the school community.

The school is respected as one of the best state schools in the country, regularly achieving examination results which place it near the top of national league tables. This success has also been recognised by Ofsted, with the school achieving four successive “Outstanding” inspections. Indeed the school was awarded this highest rating in every category in each of the two most recent inspections.

The contract covers the scope for the provision of all catering services within the School, including hospitality and free issue requirements.

The duration of the contract offered is three years commencing on 1 August 2022, concluding on 31 July 2025, with the opportunity to extend by up to an additional two years at the discretion of the governing body.

Currently there are 1116 pupils, including 326 in the sixth form. Currently year groups 7 and 8 are larger than previously, so as they move through the school we forecast to potentially have up to 1160 total in September 2022, 1195 in 2023 and 1230 in 2024. 105 pupils are currently entitled to FSM.

The contract is offered on a ‘guaranteed performance’ basis. Currently Cash Meal Deals are at a maximum of £2.48, with Free School Meals at margin, charged on what pupils actually select, up to a maximum daily cost of £2.48. Hospitality is recharged on consumption at “net” food cost only. The expectation for this contract is for nil cost or a return.

It is appreciated that a level of investment may be identified as a requirement of your bid, and therefore bidders are encouraged to provide detailed information of any equipment felt necessary. Bidders must provide the equipment make, model and cost and also a justification of how this equipment will assist in fulfilling the proposal and potential of the service. All investment suggested must be fully justified within the Service Development and Finance sections of your Bidder Response. The level of investment provided will be at the School’s discretion, subject to the method of obtaining the investment for the required equipment.

The quality of food provision will be critical and indeed your organisation must be flexible enough to source bakery, meat, fruit and vegetables and dairy products through local suppliers based no more than 25 miles from Wolverhampton. It is expected that menus will feature and utilise products in season.

Customer engagement will be fundamental to the continuous improvement in the service provision and within your tender response your methodology to achieve this will be detailed along with examples of where this has recently been undertaken within similar contracts.

The successful contractor should have experience of similar operations in a Secondary School environment, and ensure that the Operational Management Team responsible for the contract is available for regular visits and support for the contract. Suitable coverage is required for any planned or unplanned leave from within the establishment staffing structure.

A Cunningham’s biometric cashless system is already in operation, there are four tills in the main dining area and one in the external pod. There are no cash loaders with 100% of transactions being facilitated via ParentPay.

There are ample Plasma screens to support dynamic promotional activities.

The successful Supplier will work closely with the Client to manage the provision of catering and the overall ‘meal experience. The value of the catering contract for the last complete pre-Covid year, ending August 2019, was £230K.

Please see SQ Document for further details.