One consequence of the 2020 coronavirus lockdown has been the way organisations have acted to regain control, reduce costs, and streamline their catering and hospitality operations.
For many education establishments, a key priority in the short term has been to establish control procedures in an environment where health, safety and hygiene are at top of the agenda.
Over the last few months, organisations with outsourced catering operations have found that ensuring staff and pupil safety, matching resources, while controlling cost, has been a struggle where contractors have been insufficiently flexible.
Moving Catering Back In-House
Moving your catering back in-house is one answer for regaining control – and it is a shift that some schools and colleges are considering right now.
There are many other advantages of in-house catering, alongside maintaining control, but it may seem a daunting prospect to start the process. But it does not have to be with the right support!
At Pelican, we’ve considerable experience supporting education establishments in building an in-house catering operation. With 30 years’ of expertise, we act as an extension to internal resources, ensuring that the best quality ingredients go into suitably balanced menus and food offerings, sourced ethically and impartially at best-value prices from reliable local and national suppliers. Plus, of course, ensuring they meet all current health & safety and relevant food industry standards.
For those who need support creating menus, ensuring compliance with standards, and avoiding pitfalls with allergens while maintaining nutritional needs, we have a company registered dietitian in our team, on-hand as needed.
As an additional benefit, Pelican clients have found our cloud-based software suite, Pelican Pi, which comes as part of our offering, saves hours of manual admin and maintains control through transparent reporting with a variety of tools to support operations. The system provides full visibility, control and a consistent picture of the entire catering operation and its impact on finances, at any time, without any manual input.
For example, this group of Thomas’ London Day Schools delivers over 2,000 meals a day across four sites, with the in-house team fully supported by Pelican. Similarly, we support a group of seven schools that are part of The Carmel Education Trust in north east England.
Call on Pelican for support and impartial advice
After taking an initial brief to understand your core needs, Pelican will speak to all the key stakeholders in your organisation, and deliver a worked through proposal of support. You have control at every stage, with Pelican on hand to help as required.
Our team will ensure that supplier management is taken care of – with price, performance and quality regularly audited. We’ll keep you updated on food trends and legislation, so you are always one step ahead. And if you are leading on a specific initiative, such as sustainability or waste reduction, we’ll lean in with ideas and support.
As part of our service offering, you can plug into our cloud-based Pi system as much as you like. The system is designed to save you lots of hours and relieve operational headaches, by taking care of supplier payments and online ordering, managing stocks, costing menus, managing allergens and delivering detailed live management reports.
If you’re at the point where you are considering a move in-house for your catering operations, call Pelican today to see how we can help on 01252 705214 or email hello@pelicanprocurement.co.uk
