Catering Solutions for Manufacturing Facility
Transformation
Challenge / Requirement
As a new Greenfield facility, the client began operating with a skeleton workforce (approx. 50 heads) but expected staff intake to reach 300+ with the facility operating 24/7 within 18 months of start-up. This provided an interesting problem in how to offer the staff sufficient catering facilities which would allow for exponential expansion without significant further on-cost.
Process
Various different solutions offering differing levels of facility and expansion including, vending machines, offsite caterers ‘sandwich vans’ through to fully staffed hot meal catering were considered. All solutions offered benefits but carried many risks or potential obstacles during the ramp up phase. Through further investigation a relatively new type of option was discovered which offered great selection and expansion options at limited cost outlay to the client. The solution chosen was to offer an American style ‘Micromart’ or self-service shop facility.
The Micromart facility initially drew limited acceptance with the client as on the surface there are numerous perceived risks i.e. theft, ownership, stock management etc. To address these issues a number of potential suppliers visited the facility to provide in-depth presentations to the senior stakeholders.
Outcome
Following thorough discussions with each supplier outlining how each perceived risk is managed or mitigated, all stakeholders were completely on-board with the solution and even relayed the opportunity throughout the other sister group companies.
Benefits
The supplier who offered the best food offering, facility usage and cost effective option was chosen. Following final negotiations and contract development the supplier began a marketing campaign within the client’s facility to raise interest from the staff and to prepare them for the installation. The facility was embraced by all staff with all perceived risks either managed by the supplier or never actually materialised.
