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Golf Club Catering Tenders & Contracts

8th April 2020

Golf Club Catering Tenders & Contracts

The hospitality industry is big business. Across the country, contract opportunities regularly arise. Now is the perfect time for your business to tender for a hospitality contract. This includes Golf Club Catering Tenders & Contracts.

About the Hospitality Tenders portal

Hudson’s Hospitality Tenders Portal is your first port of call for hospitality tenders. We have carefully designed this subscription portal, tailored to our clients’ needs. Our in-house team of opportunity trackers manually search through thousands of tenders every day, where they will upload the latest and most relevant contract opportunities here, for you to view.

You don’t have to worry about spending hours scrolling through pages of contracts. You can filter hospitality opportunities by contract value, region, or keyword.

The latest golf club catering tenders will be easily displayed at the click of a button. The portal will save you time and effort.

Save even more time with our daily tender update. Up to 20 new tenders will be delivered straight to your inbox, every day. You can relax in the knowledge that you won’t miss out on your next successful tender. Any questions about your new opportunities? Just ask your dedicated Account Manager, who will put your mind at ease.

What opportunities are there for you?

Through our industry-specific Hospitality Tenders portal, we source opportunities which include:

  • Catering contracts;
  • Events Management Tenders;
  • Events Staffing Tenders;
  • Laundry Contracts;
  • School Meal Tenders;
  • Entertainment Contracts;
  • and Catering equipment (to name a few).

The varied nature of the hospitality industry means there is a contract suitable for your business.

Some buyers may look for ad-hoc hospitality services. For example, a caterer to provide food and drink for an organised weekend event. Other buyers may look for longer standing contracts over a number of years. For example, school meal catering and regular hosted events.

Customer needs are continually changing, and with that, new hospitality contract opportunities arise. One such area which is largely underexplored is golf club catering tenders.

Read on, to find out how you can benefit from this unique catering opportunity.

Golf Club Catering Tenders

Golf club catering tenders may sound niche, but there are literally hundreds of golf courses in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Many golfers play for many years, dedicated to the same club where they enjoy the facilities and services. Opportunities to cater can arise in the form of:

  • Clubhouses;
  • Hotels;
  • Cafes;
  • Bars;
  • and Restaurants.

Contract possibilities

For tenderers, this could mean a potential catering contract for 1, 2 or 3 years, with possible extensions. Some ITTs allow for the extension of catering service provision for months or even years. If you secure a golf club catering tender contract – great. If the buyer is pleased with your service quality over time – even better. This could result in your contract being extended, resulting in longer-term income.

Buyers who manage multiple golf courses may look to procure through a framework. This means that they will contract more than one company to provide their services. They may choose this procurement option for a number of reasons:

  • If the catering facilities are geographically distant from each other. The logistics of travelling between locations would not be productive or financially viable for many caterers.
  • Many caterers are small businesses themselves, and may not have the resources to cover all areas.
  • Golf club catering is expected to be of a high culinary standard aligned with the golf course reputation. Buyers may prefer to contract several smaller caterers who can provide this high standard. Some buyers may seek to avoid larger catering companies who may provide a comparatively lower standard.

Each buyer will have their own standards, requirements and expectations. This will also vary between the private sector and public sector buyers.

Public sector buyers may prioritise:

  • Value for money. Buyers in the public sector are accountable for spending public money. Therefore, through procurement, they will look for the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT). Public sector buyers may place scoring on a ratio of 60% cost, 40% quality or similar. Quality responses might place more emphasis on staff training, certifications, and evidence of Food Safety procedures.

On the other hand, private sector buyers may prioritise:

  • Private sector buyers will generally have more funds to spend on catering and will expect a higher quality. Catering services provided will be a direct reflection on their reputation as a premium golfing facility. Quality responses might focus on added value, innovation, and demonstrating high standards through previous contracts. Private sector buyers may place scoring on a ratio of 60% cost, 40% quality or similar.

Contracts for golf club catering tenders can be lucrative. Contract values can range anywhere from tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Golf courses in England

England’s flat, rolling landscape has a high density of courses, with numbers into their hundreds. The unique English landscape attracts a high number of regular visitors, seeking a range of catering provision to complement their golfing game.

Yorkshire and Lancashire have particular high comparable densities, with 165 and 136 golf courses respectively. Largely, golf courses in England are spread out with a good distribution across the country. For tenderers, this translates into accessibility for potential golf club catering tenderers. It is possible that there will be a contract opportunity near you.

Golf courses in Scotland

Scotland is famous for its golf courses, attracting competitors from across the globe. Many visitors take advantage of the picturesque scenery and accompanying bars, hotels and cafes. Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Aberdeenshire, Fife and Midlothian have a particularly high concentration of golf courses. Lanarkshire alone contains 57 golf courses.

Golf courses in Northern Ireland

Ireland’s coastal setting makes for sweeping golf courses within historic settings. County Antrim has the highest density of golf courses – 61. The popularity of Belfast goes hand-in-hand with the density of golf courses within the county.

Golf courses in Wales

The majority of golf courses in Wales lie along the coastline, near Snowdonia National Park, Swansea and Cardiff. South Glamorgan contains the highest density of golf courses within Wales, with 20 courses in this region.

What kind of evidence might you need?

When tendering for golf club catering tenders, you may need to demonstrate:

  • Sample menus, in line with buyer specification

These may consider things like seasonal and local produce. Buyers may ask for innovations within dishes or drinks. Conversely, they may want to know how well you can ‘match’ with the catering previously provided. Can your catering business provide a particular type of cuisine, for example, Italian or French?

  • Dietary needs and management of allergens

The Food Standards Agency notes 14 key food allergens. You may be required to demonstrate how you would manage these whilst producing food. Meeting dietary needs is expected within catering services, insofar as is reasonably practicable. Evidence here could include labelling and documenting processes and method statements.

  • Service implementation

This may include staff management, rotas, ordering and stock management, and liaison with other departments. You may be requested to provide case studies – examples of how you have provided catering services before. Typically buyers will ask for up to three different examples.

  • Staff training and development

This may include evidence for how your organisation complies with Health, Safety and Hygiene. Dependent on specification requirements, you may need to provide certificates, like Diplomas or NVQs for chef roles. Demonstrating Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is highly valuable within catering tender contracts.

  • Communication methods

As within the hospitality industry, golf club catering tenders may require customer-facing roles. Staff will interact with golfers and premises visitors. A high level of customer management and communication skills will be required. Buyers may request details of staff protocol on customer communication, which may be tailored to their specification. They may also request details of how you manage and resolve complaints.

Key for any tender is evidence, evidence, and more evidence. It can be very useful to set aside an hour or two to review your documentation.

Are all of your certificates up to date?

Do you have processes in place, but don’t document them? Now is a good time to start.

Creating a list will highlight what evidence you need to develop. When you arrive at the stage of final tender submission, you want to leave nothing to chance.

Found the perfect opportunity?

Have you found the perfect opportunity where your skills, experience and approach will deliver what the buyer asks? Fantastic. The next step is to begin your tender submission. This typically will involve a Selection Questionnaire (SQ), quality response and pricing submission. The SQ will determine whether you meet all the buyer’s essential criteria. It’s important to pass this stage. Failing at this step means that a buyer may not even consider your quality or pricing responses.

Here at Hudson, we are on hand to support you. If you require expert guidance, our Succeed bid writing division is perfect for you. If it’s your first-time tendering, our Tender Ready package will help you with your submission. We take the headache out of trying to work out what the buyer needs. We will:

  • Review the documentation you have, and need
  • Help you to optimise your content, policies and procedures
  • Create company branded designs
  • Write one tender on your behalf OR
  • Guide and review you through two.

This service will ensure that you are well prepared to succeed in future tendering. Get in touch today.