A well fed child learns better

For some children, a school dinner might be the only meal they have that day. So getting your catering service right is vital.

At Cohesion we help you design and deliver best value catering for your school, working with your chef to increase uptake, drive sales and minimise costs.

We recognise that the food culture differs from school to school, so our service is completely bespoke and focused on achieving the highest quality food service. So that all pupils, especially Free School Meal pupils, can enjoy great food throughout the day.

Getting the essentials right

Great food needs skilled chefs and professional equipment.

We support clients in equipping their catering teams with the tools and support they need to deliver an excellent service every day.

And when it comes to menu planning and cost management, we offer practical advice on how to manage menus to deliver a popular and commercially viable offer.

We can even help you design and build your perfect kitchen and restaurant. One that is unique to your school’s needs and values, and optimises service efficiency and food uptake.

Supporting your insourced team

If your school wants to run your own catering services, we offer help with everything from supply chain management to food safety, health & safety and School Food Plan compliant menus

Managing contract performance

​Monitoring contracts termly or annually keeps service levels high and contractors focused on high quality service and financial delivery.

Working as a critical friend we provide objective and balanced support to ensure tender promises are delivered, and SLA and KPI objectives are consistently achieved.

Performance health checks

Using cloud-based auditing tools, supported by proven industry benchmarks and detailed contract specifications, we conduct regular health checks to ensure you are getting the best value for your services. This includes evaluating your food purchasing pattern to help you make smart swaps on high volume items to maintain quality and reduce your costs.

Compliance

High levels of compliance will ensure that your school can offer a safe, effective and well managed service for every pupil, every day.

Our comprehensive audit reviews your systems supporting Food Safety, Allergen management and product labelling, Health and Safety, COSHH and HACCP processes.

Having the tricky conversations

When things aren’t working out, we specialise in mediation, negotiation and conflict resolution.

Using health check audits and in-depth financial reviews we can manage budget re-negotiations, service developments and contract extensions to deliver robust, pragmatic and financially viable service models that work for both school and supplier.

Contract price negotiations and reviews are challenging and becoming increasingly complex. However, by using industry benchmarks, price comparisons and detailed purchasing reviews we will ensure any negotiations are fair, proportionate and ultimately successful.

When all else fails, tendering may be the only option for both parties. In that case, Cohesion will ensure the contract handover and staffing transfer process is amicable, professional and seamless.

What others say

Glenn is professional, knowledgeable and fair, he has been totally invaluable to us with regards to our outsourced catering provision. Services covered to date include tender support, on boarding, implementation and monitoring. ​ Colleagues see Glenn as an extension to our internal resource, which is a reflection on how approaches his work, he views each £ we spend as his own. We see him as a trusted critical friend to ensure we are constantly challenging our suppliers and ourselves!

Large Multi-Academy Trust

Head of Procurement

Preparing to deliver UFSM to all Secondary School pupils was a unique and challenging project and Cohesion Consulting were a major player in its successful delivery. Throughout the project they were totally committed to the task, delivering a survey report on all 20 schools within a very short timescale which formed the basis of a Cabinet report that was approved. At every stage of the project, they offered practical and best value solutions that were achievable to ensure that schools could be ready to deliver UFSM. Their expertise in project management, contract negotiations, commissioning and mobilisation was essential and throughout they were honest and approachable with the ability to engage at all levels with schools and the whole project team which made working with them a pleasure during this challenging but exciting project.

Tower Hamlets, London

Head of Contract Services

Glenn has supported us with cleaning and catering tenders. We were extremely impressed with the level of professionalism and integrity that he provided during our catering tender a few years ago and therefore had no hesitation in asking him to support us with our more recent cleaning one. He supported us all the way through the tender and made the whole process very straightforward and simple for us. I thoroughly appreciate the way in which he continues with his level of support once the contract has started and that he makes himself available for advice. His knowledge of both sectors is impressive and he is always mindful of achieving best value and a good fit for the school.

Large Secondary School, Finchley, London

School Business Manager

Our academy has utilised Glenn’s expertise for multiple tenders now and each time have been blown away by his knowledge and dedication to his clients. Glenn truly does go above and beyond to ensure that every step is understood and completed appropriately by all parties.

Large East London Secondary Academy

Head of Estates and Operations

Glenn works with you rather than for you, always going the extra mile to ensure we get the best possible service. His knowledge and experience are second to none.

School Business Manager

Large Tower Hamlets Secondary School and Sixth Form