Tender opportunity: National Coal Mining Museum for England
The National Coal Mining Museum for England are pleased to advertise the formal tender of their catering provision and invite submissions from suitably qualified and experienced caterers. This is a really exciting opportunity to provide the catering at a busy, high-profile visitor attraction.
The Museum is located at Caphouse Colliery, Wakefield on the Kirklees Council boundary with easy access to both the M1 and M62 motorways. The Museum's mission is ‘to keep coal mining alive by collecting and preserving the industry's rich heritage, creating enjoyable and inspiring ways to learn for people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.'
The Museum opened in 1988 and since then has received various funding to support some major developments, achieving national Museum status in 1995. The Museum is funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport through the National Museum of Science & Industry and is also a registered charity, overseen by a Board of Trustees, who are responsible for the strategic direction of the Museum. Admission to the Museum is free and the attraction currently holds a 5-star rating on TripAdvisor and is listed in the ‘Top 5 things to do' in West Yorkshire. The Museum is open 7 days a week, year round and the overall site is 45 acres, which includes car parking and a children's adventure playground. A favourite with families the Museum offers a mine tour, which allows visitors to travel 140 metres underground to explore England's last deep coalmine.
The Museum currently attracts around 110,000 visitors a year and therefore, as a well-established visitor attraction with a reputation for providing a high-quality visitor experience, the Board are looking for Caterers who can provide a consistent standard of high quality catering for the year-round daytime café offer, as well as being able to manage the existing trade and growth of the conference and banqueting business.
The Board are keen to work in partnership with the successful caterers to provide an exceptional experience and support both the catering business and the future development of the Museum and site. This offers an exciting proposition for Caterers and we envisage that the opportunity may suit established Caterers looking for their next challenge and development prospect.
The contract basis is likely to be a minimum of three years with an extension opportunity, however there is room for negotiation on contract terms, so proposals are welcome. Guidelines on the financial expectations are provided in the full tender documents.
The Museum is open to the public, so interested parties may visit, but we ask that you refrain from discussing the tender with the Museum and Catering Teams, as they do not have time allocated for this. If you would like to discuss the tender or arrange an official site visit, including a tour of the kitchens and conference and banqueting suites then please contact Mollie Dodd as below.
Dates for site visits, by prior arrangement only, are the 8th and 10th July and the deadline for submissions is 31st July with interviews to be held on 6th and 7th August 2019.
Interested parties should contact Mollie Dodd mollie@creativebusinessassociates.co.uk to request a full tender pack or visit the website for more details on the venue www.ncm.org.uk
