CHECKLIST23 points
Checklist: 23 points to clear before signing with a food service operator
Before signing with a food service operator, clear 23 points across four blocks: the four documents to require before looking at a price, the eight scope components to level so two quotes become comparable, the five questions that expose a supplier without a protocol, and the six boxes to require itemised in the proposal.
This is the actionable part of two of our guides, on a single sheet you can take into the meeting. It is meant to be printed and marked up.
It asks for no email address and sits behind no form. We publish it openly because it works on any supplier — including us — and because a buyer who knows what to require is a better client than one who only compares prices.
The documents you ask for before looking at a price
Ask for them in the meeting, not by email. How fast they appear tells you more than the presentation does.
- A-01Current sanitary licence for the production site, with issue date and the name it is issued under.
- A-02Public liability insurance including product coverage, in force, with the insured amount and the insurer.
- A-03Written sanitary crisis protocol: who the spokesperson is, how long to isolate a batch, who absorbs costs.
- A-04Technical sheets for the preparations: portion weight, process, presentation and service temperature.
Scope, levelled before you compare
Send the same boxes to all three bidders and ask for a yes or a no on each. That is where you find out why the cheapest one was the cheapest.
- B-01Initial set-up: equipment, serviceware, uniforms, first purchase.
- B-02Thermal transport between the production site and your premises.
- B-03Service staff on the line, on top of production staff.
- B-04Disposables and replacement serviceware.
- B-05Special diets: diabetic, hypertensive, coeliac, cultural.
- B-06Sunday, holiday and night-shift premiums against the actual rota.
- B-07Replacement when the standard is not met.
- B-08Reports and periodic measurement.
The questions that have no scripted answer
How specific the answer is — not how confident it sounds — separates a supplier who has thought about the problem from one who will improvise on the day.
- C-01What exactly happens if the service arrives late one day? Is it written down anywhere?
- C-02Can I visit the kitchen unannounced, before signing and with my quality team?
- C-03How do I find out there was a problem: from you, or from my own people?
- C-04What document will I receive every month, and what happens if one month it does not arrive?
- C-05If I decide to leave after sixty days, what does it cost me?
How to ask for a quote that can actually be compared
A price per meal is not comparable unless it is itemised. A proposal that refuses to itemise has already told you something.
- D-01Unit price by service type and by time window.
- D-02What is in and what is out, component by component.
- D-03Initial set-up cost, if any, and which invoice it lands on.
- D-04How volume swings are treated: up to what percentage does the price hold?
- D-05Treatment of Sundays, public holidays and night shifts.
- D-06Annual price adjustment policy and its formula.
How to use it
- Print it or save it as PDF from the button above: the print layout is already set up to fit and to be written on.
- Take it into the meeting with each bidder and mark it live, not afterwards.
- Ask for block B in writing, with the same boxes for all three. It is the only way the prices become comparable.
- Keep one sheet per supplier: the comparison happens between sheets, not from memory.
SAVIA LIVING SAS · Cartagena de Indias, Colombia · savialiving.com — Free to use. You may reproduce it inside your company with attribution.