What on earth is going on here? {http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2011/05/12/338230/House-of-Commons-catering-could-go-out-to-tender-in-bid-to-cut.htm]
Is it rocket science to understand that the costs are driven by the services they ask for? Contracting out makes no difference unless it is identified that the current operator is managing things inefficiently (and knowing Sue Harrison, I struggle to believe that there's masses of room for efficiencies).
Therefore what's all this talk about contractors looking at this as a commercial opportunity? It sounds like there is a complete mix up between efficiency and services provided.
It probably doesn't help that they have approached someone with a vested interest in outsourcing for advice. Much as I admire and like Oliver Peyton, are they so blinded by celebrity at the House of Commons that he is identified as the most relevant person to review what they are doing? there is a whole raft of independent, experienced consultants out there that they should have considered first.
just looking at wage cost vs income gives an idea!
someone will probably want it for prestige but they will spend a lot of money doing it
there needs to be an understanding of efficiency and demand!
Calvin Hanks
www.cjgroup.co.uk
Why will anyone "spend a lot of money" doing it? The wage costs are mainly driven by the service demand. That is something that can be changed whether it is contracted or not. I think most catering operators would want it for the following reasons:
Turnover
Prestige
Profit
...They will make a profit by charging a fee on top of whatever operational costs are incurred, plus probably by discount retention unless they are very tightly managed.
sadly there are those that will tender on nil fee to get the prestige..they wil have to foot the bill!
yes managing opening hours etc will help reduce costs or we (the tax payer) continue to pay a large bill to cover the MP opening requirements
if the catering is open only 35 weeks per year, are staff on contracts to matach?
CJ: if the catering is open only 35 weeks per year, are staff on contracts to matach?
I don't think so. According to the report, most are still on five-day week contracts even. A lot of the cost imbalances appear to have been inherited from a change in the way Commons sits etc. And also a time where the spending of MPs didn't come under such scrutiny probably!
seems like some pruning is required!
If it is, then best do it asap pre any tender, otherwise TUPE will make it hard/impossible in the short term. I just hope there's no one out there that truly believes just outsourcing a service on its own is some sort of panacea. A measured, knowledgeable approach is the one that will pay dividends.
totally agree as any pruning done post tender will just add to costs !
tednering out does not make the problems go away, but it can provide a more extensive team to help address the issues!
Even doing the pruning in-house sounds like a mammoth task - why do you suppose the situation has been allowed to get to this stage?
This assumes that things truly are as bad as they sound. A couple of points:
1. How relevant is it to benchmark labour costs as a percentage of sales in this environment? I'm guessing tariffs are lower than commercial ones, meaning sales are suppressed. ina ny event, i always benchmark labour as a percentage of food consumption, as this is more meaningful in a non-commercial environment.
2. How realsitic is it to apply commercial benchmarks to a service such as this, which is required to be open for long (uncommercial) hours and not for the full year?
Whilst I would be the last person to defend an inefficiant service, i really struggle to accept these findings at face value. I will be very interested to hear a response from Sue Harrison...surely there have to be good reasons why costs are so high. If not, the of course Janie that is a very good question.
Why havent the government benchmarked their catering service sooner, just like the private sector generally does? There are plenty of independent, expert consultants out there (without a vested interest, but also without celebrity status!) who could do this. I'm looking forward to receiving a call (fat chance!)!
