In today’s public sector catering environment, in-house teams are under unprecedented pressure. Rising supply chain costs, staffing challenges, and a funding model that no longer keeps pace with inflation are combining to make it harder to deliver compliant, nutritious meals while maintaining financial sustainability.
When budgets are tight, something must give – fewer menu choices, smaller portions, or stretched staff. But there are strategic approaches that can help catering teams optimise sourcing and production to protect quality and reduce costs.
Procurement consolidation
A dedicated procurement organisation can manage key aspects like supplier performance, pricing, and invoice consolidation. This ensures competitive pricing and gives catering leaders the confidence to meet both quality standards and budgetary targets.
For example, allmanhall streamlined processes for Affordable Housing & Healthcare Group, giving them transparency of food spend and reducing admin time, allowing focus on residents’ needs.
Consolidating suppliers reduces delivery frequency and increases order volumes – improving efficiency and pricing. A review of buying lists may highlight duplicate lines or better pack sizes. Swapping to own brand (where nutritional and allergen requirements are met) also supports savings.
HEART Academies Trust partnered with allmanhall to achieve a 20% food cost saving, enabling them to introduce a free breakfast programme and invest in a new café.
Menu engineering and yield management
Optimising recipes and ingredient selection is vital. Seasonal produce is often cheaper and more nutritious, which benefits children, clinically vulnerable patients, and elderly people.
Adjusting protein sources and portions - for example increasing pulses and vegetable content - can reduce cost and boost nutritional value. Swapping 50% of beef for lentils in a cottage pie reduces carbon impact by 41% and achieves a 70% cost saving!
Operational efficiency
Reducing food waste eliminates unnecessary costs and supports sustainability. Assess portion sizes – are they too large? Could peelings or stale bread be repurposed?
Maintaining an in-house catering team, supported by strong procurement and operational controls, often proves more cost-effective than outsourcing. Outsourced models may seem appealing but frequently introduce moving costs, reduced transparency, and less control over quality and service delivery.
Sustainability as cost management
Sustainable menus can be budget-friendly. Hero Recipes provide 50 delicious, nutritious, cost-effective dishes.
Plant-based alternatives like the Eat Curious range – made from just pea and fava bean protein and salt – are ambient-stored, often cheaper than meat, and have a carbon footprint of just over 1kg CO₂e/kg.
Carbon labelling, through allmanhall’s partnership with Foodsteps, enables informed decisions by assessing recipe emissions and providing ratings and labels to engage diners.
Supported by allmanhall, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust is embracing plant-rich menus and tech-driven sustainability, empowering staff and patients to make better food choices.
In conclusion, funding pressures, inflation and staffing issues are challenging public sector leaders like never before. But the solution isn’t to cut quality or scale back ambition - or to outsource services, which can introduce hidden costs, reduced flexibility, and long-term expense.
With the right procurement partner and strategic insight, teams can maintain nutritious, compliant meals while improving efficiency, cutting costs, and supporting sustainability.