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?
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.
Although when you are writting catering tenders, it not the easiest decision to make. A lot of this will dependant of the catering tender you are bidding for.
A few years ago if you were writing catering tenders for schools you would largely be competing on cost. Jamie Olivers School Dinners Campaign has shifted the empasis towards high quality food.
Without sounding contrdictory, its not that easy. Schools have to be seen to offer a healty good quality menu. However in most cases they can’t afford to pay the high cost of genuinely high quality catering services.
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. If your catering tender is over priced, you won’t stand a chance. Make sure your catering tenders acknowledge that they may not be the cheapest if your know thats not your angle.
Maybe you only use free range eggs. Perhaps you only use organic ingredients. Or your chocolate is fair trade. Justify your slightly higher prices in your catering tenders while explaining why that matters.
If you are amking any claims within your catering tender, you need to make sure you back these 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.
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. Your suceess rate will be much higher if you only write catering tenders for businesses who are looking for a low budget service.
Getting the balance right for writing catering tenders is not the easiest. 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.