There's no plates like
Many contract caterers think of home meal replacement (HMR) as an added-value service that could help them retain contracts rather than being a huge money-spinner. Their main fear is burdensome set-up and labour costs.
But some also see HMR as an opportunity to sell more to existing customers, attract new ones, and reach those customers' families and friends outside work. Time-poor, cash-rich workers in turn have the convenience of taking meals straight home without making a detour to the take-away or supermarket.
Broader base
It's this potential to broaden the customer base that several caterers have been unable to ignore. Among those trying to develop HMR operations are Bedford Hospital NHS Trust's in-house catering team, Catering & Allied and Quadrant Catering. All have also signed up to a scheme run by Caterplan, the food service division of Best foods.
Steven Morgan, catering operations manager at Bedford Hospital, saw HMR as the only expansion route left for the hospital's Swannery Restaurant and Le Bistro coffee shop. The 50-strong catering team had already boosted turnover from £300 in the early 1990s to £2,500 a day (£750,000 a year) by attracting a loyal customer base among the hospital's 1,800 staff, patient visitors, and even local diners. Set-up costs for the HMR operation have in fact proved minimal as the team already owned a combi oven, blast-chiller and labelling system. "It just takes imagination and drive," says Morgan.
The trials started in June and ran over five Fridays. While warm June weather could have dampened demand for his six curries and accompaniments, Morgan increased overall sales by 8% with minimal investment and no extra staff hours, and launched the service officially this month.
The take-away option appeals to hospital staff going home or back to their room on site after a long shift, as well as night staff, and has attracted 18-40 orders each Friday, typically shifting some 100 dishes. Caterplan suggested setting prices above canteen levels but at or below those of local take-away rivals, but Morgan feels unable to charge a premium over restaurant prices.
The new menu addresses requests for more choice, especially from the 20% of nurses who are vegetarians. It lists three Chinese and eight Indian dishes, including pork and peppers in black-bean sauce and cashew nuts (£2.40), Chinese-style chilli vegetables and pineapple (£1.90), chicken tikka marsala (£2.40), and prawn and pepper patia (£2.70), with rice from £1 to £1.60, mini naans (90p) or bombay potatoes (£1.90). Pasta-lovers have four choices, including lasagne (£2.70), tagliatelle with crème fraîche, ham and mushrooms (£2.40), and side dishes of pitta bread and tossed salad (90p each).
Order forms are accepted until Thursday lunchtime. The meals are then freshly prepared, packaged, labelled and named, and stored for collection by 7.30pm on Friday. Night staff's orders are delivered to the ward kitchens and, since the trial, Morgan has been popping a selection of six dishes from the restaurant menu into a coin-operated chilled vending machine.
Morgan's view is that "in 10-15 years, most people will buy food this way". Future options include extending HMR to Thursday nights, selling to patient visitors, and making batch orders for parties of 10-20 people. Morgan anticipates a 12% lift in profits from HMR - £70 a day or £5,000 a year - but adds that this could be doubled.
Different site, different minds
Perhaps proving that HMR needs to be tailored to the site, Catering & Allied has found that the 2,000 Mirror Group staff at London's Canary Wharf aren't biting. "It's dying at the moment," says operations manager Chris Potter. By week four of the trial, the 32-strong catering team had taken just three orders.
Potter has identified four obstacles. The menu of three chicken-based curries is too limited, and taste has suffered from the shorter cooking times that smaller portions require. Staff have proven resistant to pre-ordering and highly price-sensitive - at £2.56 (plus 80p for rice), the HMR curries surpass canteen prices. Potter also faces stiff competition from the wealth of nearby restaurants and supermarkets, and from his core operation. Staff can collect hot food from the canteen until 9.30pm, and cold food until 11pm.
Remedial action may involve cutting prices and risking wastage. Potter regards the trials as a bid "to get people used to thinking about what they are going to eat [that night] at 10am, rather than 4pm on the way home". He is determined to explore every avenue to make HMR work, and says: "I will keep going until I get fed up with it, or until I realise I'm flogging a dead horse."
