Writing Catering tenders pose challenging questions right from the offset. It’s the old, do I focus my catering tender on the high quality of the food or the low cost of the service?
The answer really lies in what your selling points were when you initially set up your business. 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. The decision should be based on exactly who you write your catering tenders for.
A few years ago if you were writing catering tenders for schools you would largely be competing on cost. Schools are now more aware that school dinners should be of a higher quality, largely thanks to TV Chef, Jamie Olivers Campaign.
Without sounding contrdictory, its not that easy. Schools can’t afford to look like they provide substandard, low quality food. However in most cases they can’t afford to pay the high cost of genuinely high quality catering services.
So what‘s the solution for your catering services company? How should you pitch your catering tenders?
look at both options, take low caost Cateting tenders for example. 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.
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. 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.
And what if you are the cheap and cheerful catering services provider? How then do you pitch your catering tenders? The trick is to pick the right jobs to tender 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.