Writing Catering tenders pose challenging questions right from the offset. Should your catering tenders tell everyone about the high quality catering that you can offer? Or should your catering tenders focus on the low cost of your services?
It’s a question you should have answered when you first set up your catering services company. Right from the begining you would have had an idea on the service you were going to offer, and your catering tenders should be written around this.
If you offer cheap and cheerful services then trying to sell the high quality of your food isn’t the way to go. 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.
And yet it isn’t necessarily that easy to decide when you’re writing the catering tenders. This decision can be helped by that of the catering tender you are looking to win.
previously Catering tenders for schools were based on cost and your tender would only have been succesful if you were amongst the cheapest.. Jamie Olivers School Dinners Campaign has shifted the empasis towards high quality food.
Yet even in this example the answer isn’t clear cut. Schools have to be seen to offer a healty good quality menu. They must also though, watch their costs as their budgets may not be as large as corporate companies.
How should you write your Catering Tenders? What would be the best way for your your catering business?
The answer may be to discuss value for money in your catering tenders. Obviously if you’ve priced yourself out of the market this isn’t going to mean you will win the contract. Make sure your catering tenders acknowledge that they may not be the cheapest if your know thats not your angle.
Perhaps all your produce is sourced locally. Perhaps you only use organic ingredients. It could be that all your hot drinks are Fairtrade. Justify your slightly higher prices in your catering tenders while explaining why that matters.
Make sure any claims you make within your catering tender are backed up. Are you registered as a distributor of Fairtrade products? Do you only use Soil Association certified ingredients? Then it needs to be in all your catering tenders.
OK so lets say, you specialise in a value for money service, how would you then write your catering tenders? the secret to this is to only bid for tenders that fit within your business model. Your suceess rate will be much higher if you only write catering tenders for businesses who are looking for a low budget service.
Writing catering tenders is a difficult balancing act. Just remember that whether company is looking for cheaper or higher quality food, they all want to see value for money in all of the catering tenders they read.
