Technology helps Host retain £1.75m contract

National contract catering group Host has this week announced the retention of its Sanctuary Care procurement contract following an EU tender process.

The three-year contract, worth some £1.75m per year in food costs, services 50 plus care homes throughout the UK and a conference centre through Host’s in-house supply management system Caternet.

“This is an important contract for Host and one we have retained based on a balance of competitive supply prices and the implementation of Caternet,” commented Host managing director Jerry Brand.

The Caternet management system, which is supplied and managed independently to Host’s own catering contracts, handles purchasing, menu management, nutritional analysis, labeling and marketing. The system is currently used by over 160 in-house catering sites.

“The Sanctuary Care catering teams will shortly be installing our G-shop e-procurement system which enables local farmers and suppliers as well as national supply chains to trade in a paperless environment,” added Brand. “This helps reduce the collective carbon footprint of the Sanctuary Care catering operation as well as speeding up administration and financial planning.

“The market is extremely tough at the moment, particularly with the public cost-cutting announced by the coalition Government last week. Clients are now looking at further ways of controlling costs, which is why Caternet and G-shop are well placed to expand as they both deliver pricing transparency to our customers. In our own catering contracts, particularly in business and industry, we have developed new, set-price tariffs and promotions designed to deliver further value for money to our customers. It’s going to be increasingly vital for contractors to keep people using dining facilities, rather than bringing their own food into work.”

For further information, interviews or comment please contact Linda Pettit at Tilburstow Media Partners on 01737 823721/07973 789853 or email linda@tilburstowmedia.co.uk.

EDITOR’S NOTE

Host is an independent, nationally based, environmentally friendly contract catering company, partly owned by the company management through an EMI share option scheme. The company was founded in 2004 and is directed by award winning contractor and former restaurateur Jerry Brand.

Host has contracts in Scotland, Wales and mainland England including business & industry, directors and partners dining rooms, conference facilities, independent (prep, senior and 6th form) schools, Beacon state schools, further and higher education, and the healthcare industry in care homes, hospices and hospitals. The Host organisation looks after 75 contracts and employs over 550 staff.

In 1988 Jerry Brand established the successful contract catering company Russell & Brand (R&B) which in 1994/95 became the 2nd fastest-growing private company in the UK. In 1996 R&B was sold to US-based Marriott to spearhead its launch into the UK contract catering market.

Jerry Brand founded Host with the same business principles he used at R&B: to offer clients a fair deal by following a code of business ethics; to develop a good working relationship with both client and employee; and to allow staff and management sufficient empowerment to run their areas of responsibility as if they were running their own business. www.hostmgt.com.

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