A balancing act
Managing a catering operation within the public sector is a balancing act of the highest order. Whether you are feeding students, patients, or inmates, the mandate is the same: provide nutritious, compliant meals while navigating the tightest margins imaginable.
With inflation affecting the supply chain and energy prices remains volatile, efficiency is no longer just a goal—it is a necessity. Here is a strategic guide on how to optimise your budget across the three largest overheads: food, staff, and energy.
Food
Food is your most variable cost. In the public sector, ‘value for money’ must be weighed against strict nutritional standards (such as the School Food Standards or Government Buying Standards for Food).
Optimise your menu by rationalising ingredients. For example, look for ‘cross-utilisation’. If you use spinach in a salad for a university cafe, then ensure it is also featured in a curry or a quiche to ensure 100% utilisation before it wilts.
Embrace seasonality by buying British produce in its peak season because it is significantly cheaper. For schools and hospitals, rotating menus based on the UK harvest calendar reduces reliance on expensive, out-of-season imports.
Another idea is ‘protein flipping’. Meat is often the most expensive item on the plate, so increase the ratio of pulses, lentils, and grains you use in meat dishes. Not only does this lower costs, but it also aligns with the public sector’s Net Zero sustainability targets.
You can also look to tighten procurement through collaborative purchasing. If you are a single care home or a small academy, join a Purchasing Organisation (PO) because buying your food, drink and other supplies as part of a larger consortium gives you the leverage to negotiate prices usually reserved for national chains.
And what about standardising portions. Invest in levelled ladles and scoops. In high-volume environments like prisons or large secondary schools, a ‘heavy hand’ by a server can lead to thousands of pounds of lost margin over a term.
Workforce
When it comes to the workforce, catering managers will need to look at streamlining staffing and labour. Manpower is often a caterer’s biggest expense. In the public sector, where the Living Wage and pension contributions are standard, you must focus on productivity rather than simply cutting hours.
Help to ensure your team can pivot by introducing cross-training and versatility. That means multi-skilling. A kitchen porter who is trained in basic food prep can fill in during a mid-morning rush, preventing the need for expensive agency cover.
Smart scheduling is another tactic you can use to help run the catering as efficiently as possible. Use historical data to pinpoint peaks and troughs. In a university catering environment, for example, you may need high staffing at 8am and 1pm, but can operate with a skeleton crew in between. So, try to avoid ‘blanket shifts’ where staff sit idle during quiet periods.
And try to hang on the staff you already have by looking after them and showing they are appreciated. Retention is much cheaper than recruitment and eliminates long periods when you are under-staffed while waiting for the new worker to start.
The cost of hiring and training a new chef or server in a secure environment like a prison, for instance, is immense due to vetting requirements. Instead, try to invest in clear career pathways and promote a positive culture to keep your experienced staff on board.
Energy consumption
Turning to energy consumption, we have to face the fact that commercial kitchens are energy-intensive hubs. However, simple behavioural changes can lead to a 10% to 20% reduction in utility bills without any capital investment.
Then there is the ‘switch on’ schedule. Avoid the ‘all-on’ habit that can often see kitchen teams walk in at 7am and turn on every oven, fryer, and hob. Manage this tendency by creating a timed ‘switch on’ schedule. If the steamer isn’t needed until 10am, it should stay off until 9:45am.
When it comes to equipment maintenance there are also relatively easy savings to be made. A dusty condenser coil on a walk-in fridge can increase its energy use by 25%. Ensure a strict cleaning regime for all cooling and heating elements to keep them running at peak efficiency.
Also, be prepared to have your team adjust their usual cooking practices and techniques. Always use lids on pans to retain heat and reduce cooking times. And when using ovens, ensure that they are fully loaded to maximise the energy ‘per unit’ of food produced.
Conclusion
In summary, when it comes to food look at standardising portion sizes using measured scoops as a quick win. Longer term transition to a ‘plant-forward’ menu with more pulses.
With your teams, stop using agency staff for non-specialised roles and longer terms try to implement a robust multi-skilling training programme. And when it comes to energy, create a timed equipment ‘power on’ schedule right away. Longer term replace end-of-life appliances with induction hobs.