Writing Catering tenders pose challenging questions right from the offset. Which is the best direction of focus for your catering tender? should I concertrate on the low costs of the service or the high quality of the food?
The answer really lies in what your selling points were when you initially set up your business. Where you have chosen to position yourself in the market should have an impact on how you write your catering tenders.
You will get knowwhere selling expensive high qaulity food if you pride yourself on a value for money service. Also if your service is that of a high end, top quality catering service, then trying to competative on price is not what you are about and goes against your beliefs.
However, That is a lot easier said than done when you site down to write your catering tender. The decision should be based on exactly who you write your catering tenders for.
There have been many changes in the way Catering tenders for schools are written, 3 years ago you would have only been successful if your tender was competative on cost. Since a high profile campaign by Jamie Oliver to raise catering standards in schools you might want to emphasise your quality.
Without sounding contrdictory, its not that easy. Schools can’t afford to look like they provide substandard, low quality food. But they also have budgets to stick to and cant be seen to be squandering money.
So what‘s the solution for your catering services company? How should you pitch your catering tenders?
The answer may be to discuss value for money in your catering tenders. pricing you tender too high will only have one outcome, and that is not you winning the contract. But, if you know your services aren’t the cheapest, explain that to anyone reading your catering tenders.
Maybe you only use free range eggs. Perhaps you only use organic ingredients. Or your chocolate is fair trade. Make sure your higher prices are justified.
If you are amking any claims within your catering tender, you need to make sure you back these up. If you only use soil association products or you are a registered distributor of fairtrade products, you need to make sure you include this in your catering tenders.
So How would you write your catering tenders if you were offering low cost catering services? The answer lies in the jobs you are pitching for. Not everyone will be looking for the best quality ingredients. So if you only write catering tenders for those companies, you’ll have a greater chance of success.
Writing catering tenders is a difficult balancing act. The potnetial client either way is going to be looking for value in the service when reading through the catering tenders submitted for consideration.