Shelf life

Past and present dovetail neatly at the new British Library at St Pancras, London. After poring over the 13th century Magna Carta in the twilight of the exhibition rooms, readers can now refresh themselves with 20th century fare such as cappuccinos in the café or filo-wrapped kedgeree in the restaurant.

But organising the catering, like building the £500m library itself, has not been straightforward. When government funding for the catering facilities at the library, opened by the Queen in June, was reduced, the library board looked to the private sector for investment using the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

Originally, the board had planned to use various outside caterers for the diverse services within the building, but under competitive tender, Sutcliffe Catering was awarded the entire 11-year contract, potentially worth £1.3m a year. Under the deal, the caterer has invested a "substantial" amount in fitting out the kitchens, café, restaurant and the Chapter Coffee Shop with equipment, furniture, cutlery and crockery. It is one of the first contracts of this size and nature to be concluded under PFI.

"The PFI process is about placing the risk with the party best able to manage it," says Karen Plouviez, house manager at the library. "Sutcliffe Catering provided the capital investment necessary to complete and equip the catering facilities when Government was keen to limit the public sector commitment to capital projects.

"Public-private partnerships are clearly the way forward. It's simply a matter of both sides recognising the needs of the other and coming up with an acceptable contract that serves the public interest, reduces the element of risk for the public-sector body and allows the contractor to make a reasonable return over a sensible period of time."

Sutcliffe operates a concessionary contract feeding public and employees, with a percentage of turnover to be returned to the client once the agreed levels are achieved. The agreement includes 30% discount to staff to be absorbed by general sales. This is the first PFI for Sutcliffe's City area and it expects to recoup its investment over the next five years.

There are now 500 client staff on site with the total of 1,000 expected by the end of 1999 when the library is fully opened and the predicted number of visitors reaches 3,000 a day. If visitor and staff numbers fall below the given threshold, the library will compensate Sutcliffe for loss of sales.

The contract went out to tender in February 1997 and was awarded in November 1997, but details were not finalised until earlier this year, leaving a tight schedule for Sutcliffe and project management company Berkeley Projects to complete the fitting-out of the three catering outlets by April. Every item from forks to serveries had to be approved by the architect, Professor Sir Colin St John Wilson. Sutcliffealso operates 122 vending machines providing hot and cold snacks and beverages, serving 800 customers on a 24-hour basis.

Both the public and library staff use the restaurant servery, which divides the two dining areas. The public area seats 100 and in the first two months of trading served 245 customers per day with an average spend of £2.64. The staff dining room, which includes a terrace with views over the London skyline, seats 200 and serves more than 200 people a day with an average spend of £1.70.

The café, positioned on the gallery below the restaurant, seats 80 and is now serving more than 300 customers a day with an average spend of £2.17. While the staff dining room is bright with natural light, the public areas have a suitably bookish feel with muted colours and subdued lighting. The restaurant and the café are dominated by the King's Library stretching from floor to ceiling. Collected by George III and presented to the nation by George IV, it comprises 65,000 volumes and 20,000 pamphlets.

One unusual feature is the marked lack of branding in the restaurant and café.

"Originally, we planned to use some of our in-house brands and a Chef's Theatre, but we saw that the market was not the type that would respond to brands, nor was branded food appropriate," says Anthony Adams, managing director for Sutcliffe's City division.

"It's very rewarding to work with the library," says Adams. "We have a good partnership and a mutual spirit of wanting to get it under way. They placed a lot of confidence in our abilities to deliver. We realise that catering will become increasingly important to the library as a source of income."

Opportunities for attracting income lie principally in providing hospitality within the building and the purpose-built conference centre with a 250-seat auditorium and 16 meeting rooms. Sutcliffe is working closely with the library events team to build up the conference business, for which it is ideally placed because of road and rail connections and sporting its own large car park.

The piazza in front of the library is also being made use of. Launch events and a poetry reading have taken place, and when the number of visitors rises, Sutcliffe may run some form of catering in the area.

Such enterprises all put pressure on recruitment, however. There are 30 Sutcliffe staff on site and getting the labour requirements to match the service is challenging, according to Richard Leeming, general sales manager, City. "Our trading profit is our main source of income, so we've got to plan ahead, and with income in the outlets fluctuating from £200 to £300 per day depending on public, school and academic holidays, the labour pattern is still evolving."

This is reflected in recruitment and training. Jane Winter, general catering manager at the library, comes from a retail background, and there is strong emphasis on the retail and financial areas in training. Multi-skilling is the norm: an assistant on veg-prep in the morning switches to clearing tables during the lunch hour, cashiers punch through invoices when not on duty.

"This is partly due to the volume, which does not make it economic to have too many staff, and partly because the operation is for seven days a week with a potentially heavy payroll at the weekend, which means staff must be flexible," explains Leeming.

"Our business is to make a return on capital invested, more like a supermarket, rather than just providing staff catering where we sometimes make money," says Adams. n