Facilities Manager's Desk Reference, 3rd Edition

36Catering and Hospitality Services

36.1 Introduction

The UK contract catering industry is a typical oligopoly. That is to say, it is dominated by a small number of very large organisations (five) – Compass Group, Sodexo, Aramark, Elior (Avenance) and Westbury Street Holdings – with a very large number (over 3600) of significantly smaller companies. These large catering companies operate thousands of contracts, whereas a medium‐sized contractor operates up to 300 contracts. The majority of contractors operate under 50 sites each.

Given this large number of catering contractors, it is inevitable that the market is well served by national, regional and local operators, as well as specialist operators working in a particular niche, such as directors’ dining or schools. The FM (facilities manager, or facilities management) therefore has to select the most appropriate contractor that suits the organisation’s catering strategy, remembering that ‘big is not necessarily best’.

The large and diverse catering marketplace gives the purchaser a huge choice. However, it is important to carry out some pre‐qualification checks to ensure that only companies that are experienced in catering for the specific needs of the client organisation, whether this is a café, vending or client dining rooms, are invited to tender. Additionally, each contractor must be able to support the geographical location of the client site satisfactorily.

Typical catering services required by an organisation include: ...