Case Studies

Bath & North East Somerset Council

The school meals service encompasses 31 production kitchens supplying 61 primary schools and special units, providing some 155,000 meals per month.

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AVL have worked with Bath & NE Somerset continuously since late 2014 undertaking a number of projects all relating to improving the financial and operational performance of the in-house managed school meals service.

Project Brief

Phase 1(a): Review of the School Meals Service

A robust and unbiased review of the catering service.

• Quality of food
• Service standards
• Meal numbers and uptake statistics
• Staffing and efficiency
• Management and systems
• Finances including meal price, food, labour, fixed and variable costs
• Alternative operating models including in-house and outsourced services

Phase 1(b): Market Research

Qualified research with user groups to ascertain the customer perspective of the service delivery.

• Online survey
• Focus Groups
• 1-2-1 interviews

Phase 2: Review of School Meals Purchasing

To meet the Council’s strong ethos of true local procurement to support the local supply chain, AVL assisted with the following:

• Review of procurement strategy
• Engagement with potential suppliers
• Drafting of commodity specifications
• Evaluation of tender received

Outcome

AVL has identified where significant savings can be delivered, whilst retaining the high quality of food and service for which the in-house catering service can be justifiably proud.

We have also offered solutions to ensure that the management information, administration and internal communication systems can benefit from modern IT capability.

Client Contact

Richard Howroyd
Head of Strategic Procurement & Commissioning

Please ask us for contact details so we may approach our client in advance.