Decision details

As per the Committee Decision taken in June 2023 and confirmed in July 2024, the council is changing from the current model for delivering corporate catering and eventing services.
A tender process has been executed to engage a single concessionaire with specialist food industry expertise to assume delivery responsibility for cafés, catering and event/ function services across a number of venues including, but not limited to the City Hall, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG), M Shed, Central Library, Create Centre, Lord Mayor’s Mansion House and BCC Parks Cafes and kiosks.
An Officer Decision is required to make the final award.

To award the Corporate Catering and Events Contract to Compass Contract Services (UK) Limited trading as Restaurant Associates Venues

Option 1 - Do nothing – Continue to operate multiple contracts and run the Parks Cafes as an in-house operation. Deemed unacceptable due to level of risk, complexity and duplication associated with contract management, and inability to harness scales of economy in operating the service to deliver increased revenues to the council
Option 2 - Multiple separate contracts – Continue to operate separate contracts per location/ location group. The Parks Cafes were taken to market as an entity and no bids were received. The portfolio comprises a wide variety of offerings: some successful and established and others with significant development requirements. This made it likely that bidders would ‘cherry-pick’ and therefore not address the fundamental growth and risk reduction/ efficiency objectives of the initiative.