Active Life – Kingsmead Leisure Centre ~ Catering Tender

The successful Supplier will be required to provide catering services in a catering concession at Kingsmead Leisure Centre in Canterbury. The Leisure centre has just been refurbished with in excess of £10million invested. Kingsmead has a footfall between 40k and 50k per month with a market leading daytime group exercise programme attendees and a large swim school, which both drive footfall throughout each day. Pre- refurbishment, the café was self-operated and generated significant revenues upon which good net margins were consistently achieved. There are no existing employees designated for catering and therefore TUPE is not expected to apply.

The cafe is situated pre barrier – meaning it can be accessed additionally by non-leisure users and has a small terrace outside facing onto gardens and the centre carpark. The café has been significantly redesigned and upgraded as can be seen in the attached photos, but will require inward investment from the caterer in terms of refrigeration, prime cooking, further tables and chairs to find the optimum layout and further display materials and signage.

Due to the café’s location it is possible to inspect the area to get a feel for possibility without appointment, however there will be a formal site visit and bidders meeting for those shortlisted for the main Invitation to tender (ITT) when full details of the opportunity within the ITT will be explained.

The expectation is that the catering operation will function only within the centre opening times, and be a complementary service adding value to the loyal members and visitors.

The minimum expectation for contract term will be five years, and the ITT will allow for proposals to go beyond that term (subject to satisfactory performance and mutual agreement to allow longer depreciation of contractor assets).

It is anticipated that the ITT will look for bidders to propose basic annual fixed tenure fees, with additional royalty % on achievement of sales levels to help. To enable this, open book accountancy practices will be followed. Services, notably Electricity, Gas and Water will all be metered and chargeable to the successful bidder on consumption at agreed market rates. The rent and royalty arrangement offered via the tender and payment for services are expected to be the only external charges applicable.

Alongside operation of the café, the agreement with the preferred cater will have the opportunity to cater to events within the centre, which could be promoted by the centre themselves or promoted by the catering operator. Any additional service points via vended offers for out of hours will be defined in the main ITT specification these may well be out of scope).

Active Life, the client, will consider all applications from local entrepreneurs and SME’s alongside regional and wider reaching catering organisations and expect the ITT process to find a trustworthy and long-term concession partner to develop the service in a number of ways:

•To find ways of understanding/interpreting and meeting the differing needs of customers at different times of the day – from coffee/healthy & treat snacking, to proteinous and carbohydrate loading through the day, to options for parents and kids before or after swim school

•A balance of popular fayre and healthy options (to help promote healthier lifestyles)

•A menu offer that is attractive, seasonal and seen as value for money

•Increased skills and confidence in the catering team and ongoing effort in building partnership with the client

•Better communication with centre staff, members and visitors to develop trust by addressing all aspects of the customer journey, from card loading, menu presentation, marketing/ promotion and merchandising to point of sale

See SQ document for further information Additional information: To respond to this opportunity please click here: litmustms.co.uk/respond/F58P6A87A4 ↗