Tender opportunity: Café at Houghton Hall Park, Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire
Central Bedfordshire Council is seeking a competent and qualified caterer to work in partnership to establish and develop a café within the new visitor centre at Houghton Hall Park, Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire.
Houghton Hall Park is currently undergoing a £3.5m ‘Parks for People' funded restoration programme which includes the construction of a new 326m² visitor centre (including fully fitted commercial kitchen), restoration of the former kitchen and formal gardens, together with new play features and ‘easy access' improvements.
The 17 hectare park is very close to Houghton Regis town centre with 43,000 people currently living within 1km of the park and 842,000 people living within a 30 minute drive time. Free car parking is available immediately adjacent to the visitor centre.
The caterer will provide catering and refreshment services for:
• the café within the visitor centre (28 covers) and the outdoor seating area, including a ‘take away' offer
• the flexible meeting spaces within the facility (2 x state of the art meeting rooms accommodating up to 35 people in each room)
The caterer will also have the option to provide catering for the larger scale events and activities within the main park area and will be given first refusal for these opportunities.
The menu will focus on freshly prepared meals and beverages. Seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables from the newly restored kitchen garden will be available for use within the café in liaison with the Head Gardener and the Park Manager.
The caterer may apply for a licence to allow sales of alcoholic beverages with meals.
During the summer months, the caterer may provide additional service locations (such as kiosks and carts) for the sale of ice-cream and beverages.
Construction of the visitor centre is due to be completed by the end of August 2017, with a target café contract commencement date of 4 September 2017.
To express an interest, please log in or register on our electronic tendering system https://in-tendhost.co.uk/centralbedfordshire in order to view the necessary tendering documents and respond accordingly.
Please note that once you have registered on ‘In-tend' a separate action (Opt In/ Out) is required to access the documents; you must click on the actual Tender you wish to access.
Please note that the deadline for the receipt of completed tenders is 12 noon on Thursday 22 June 2017 any submissions or attachments received after this deadline will not be accepted.