Writing Catering tenders pose challenging questions right from the offset. Should your catering tenders tell everyone about the high quality catering that you can offer? Or should your catering tenders focus on the low cost of your services?
The answer really lies in what your selling points were when you initially set up your business. Where you have chosen to position yourself in the market should have an impact on how you write your catering tenders.
If you offer cheap and cheerful services then trying to sell the high quality of your food isn’t the way to go. On the flip side, if you pride yourself on the quality of your food and use expensive ingredients, then trying to compete on price is not the way forward.
Although when you are writting catering tenders, it not the easiest decision to make. This decision can be helped by that of the catering tender you are looking to win.
A few years ago if you were writing catering tenders for schools you would largely be competing on cost. Jamie Olivers School Dinners Campaign has shifted the empasis towards high quality food.
Without sounding contrdictory, its not that easy. Schools can’t afford to look like they provide substandard, low quality food. They must also though, watch their costs as their budgets may not be as large as corporate companies.
How should you write your Catering Tenders? What would be the best way for your your catering business?
The answer may be to discuss value for money in your catering tenders. Obviously if you’ve priced yourself out of the market this isn’t going to mean you will win the contract. But, if you know your services aren’t the cheapest, explain that to anyone reading your catering tenders.
Maybe you only use free range eggs. Maybe your napkins are all recyclable. Or your chocolate is fair trade. Make sure your higher prices are justified.
Make sure any claims you make within your catering tender are backed up. If you only use soil association products or you are a registered distributor of fairtrade products, you need to make sure you include this in your catering tenders.
And what if you are the cheap and cheerful catering services provider? How then do you pitch your catering tenders? The trick is to pick the right jobs to tender for. Your suceess rate will be much higher if you only write catering tenders for businesses who are looking for a low budget service.
Writing catering tenders is a difficult balancing act. The potnetial client either way is going to be looking for value in the service when reading through the catering tenders submitted for consideration.