Testimonials
The Mead Educational Trust (TMET) is made up of eight primaries and five secondaries. We faced the challenge of changing our catering provision across all schools in the Trust.
We enlisted the services of Lucy and Robert at Matriculate (Education Catering Consultants) to manage the tender process. Matriculate provided focused and highly organised tender project management and were approachable and professional.
They took the time to visit each site and familiarise themselves with the individual needs of the schools. They provided a very ‘hands on’ service and attended all visits by bidders, utilising their considerable skills and experience to question and clarify.
Matriculate were firm and frequently challenged bidding caterers on a number of issues – driving a hard bargain on behalf of Trust schools and ensuring we received the best possible outcome.
Lucy and Robert kept us updated regularly and were always on hand to answer any queries. They were brilliant at cutting through the ‘jargon’ and ensuring we understood not only the process but also what was being proposed by bidders.
I found their support invaluable and have now bought into their support service going forward.Matruculate
I was tasked with finding a catering company to take over from the in-house team in our 1200 pupil secondary school and also to work with a primary school in our Trust. Having met several school catering consultants we chose Matriculate, based on their extensive experience in the industry – and on how easy they were to deal with.
They ran a thorough and detailed tender process, happily answering any questions we had and ensuring that the Trust’s objectives were always at the heart of the process.
Matriculate ensured that all the bidders completed the same financial framework enabling us to make sensible comparisons between what was on offer. Lucy joined us for the presentations and tasting sessions from the two finalists and supported our decision making every step of the way.
Our two other Primary schools have since come on board and have also valued the support that Matriculate provide.
We are now one year into our new catering contract and everything is going extremely well. The staff and pupils are very happy with our new providers and the on-site audit and financial analysis that Lucy has provided have been invaluable for me. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Matriculate to any schools looking to launch a catering tender.
As CEO for Herts for Learning Multi Academy Trust, and leading the provision of catering across the Trust, we had a decision about whether to use a procurement framework or school meals consultant. Having met several of each, we chose Matriculate on the basis of positive first hand reviews from other clients and the clarity of their pitch. We were impressed by the personal touch and care with which they responded to our questions.
We have now begun the contract and the investment that Lucy and Robert made in preparing bidders and our team has really paid off. They took care of the formal parts and ensured we had a tender that clearly reflected our priorities. After meeting the short-listed bidders we chose our preferred partner. The ‘proof of the pudding’ is the service that the Trust will get from the contractor, they have made a very promising start.
Lucy and Robert are available and ready to answer questions. There was an attention to detail and they are knowledgeable about their field. None of our (many) questions were treated as trivial and they led us effectively through the whole process, no less important has been the humour and warmth with which they worked.
