Social clauses in catering contracts: how to write them

More and more councils, consortia and organisations want the food they contract to reflect their own values. The usual problem isn't a lack of will: it's that the criteria are badly written and the contract ends up going to the same providers as always.

We're not lawyers and this isn't legal advice. It's what we've learned from applying to these processes and reading the briefs ourselves.

What the law allows

Public procurement rules recognise that price shouldn't be the only criterion, and they allow social and environmental criteria, both as conditions of performance and as award criteria. They also provide for reserving certain contracts for social economy organisations.

In other words: favouring a workers' co-operative isn't a favour, and it isn't irregular, as long as the criterion is tied to the actual subject of the contract and written objectively.

The most common mistake

Writing criteria that don't filter anything. "Commitment to sustainability will be considered" commits nobody to anything: everyone ticks the box and everyone gets the points. For a criterion to work, it has to be verifiable with a document.

Criteria that actually work

• A minimum percentage of sustainable produce, backed by invoices and certificates, not a declaration.
• A maximum sourcing distance for a specific food group, with a list of suppliers.
• Same-day cooking, with an explicit cap on pre-cooked and chilled food.
• Working conditions: the applicable collective agreement, staff stability, staffing ratios.
• Non-profit legal status or membership of the social market, evidenced by statutes and registration.
• A plan for reducing waste and using up leftover food.
• A gender perspective in how teams are made up and in the protocols used.

How to stop the evaluation being a rubber stamp

• Give qualitative criteria real weight. If price is worth 70%, everything else is decoration.
• Set out a concrete scoring scale, not a discretionary one.
• Ask for documentary evidence with the bid, not promises to be fulfilled later.
• Include penalties for non-compliance during the contract. A criterion with no consequence is just a wish.
• Check compliance partway through the contract, not only at the award stage.

Set a realistic starting price

This is the point that wrecks the most well-intentioned processes. If you ask for sustainable produce, on-site cooking and decent staffing ratios, but price the menu as if it were chilled, mass-produced food, nobody who can actually deliver will bid, or someone will bid, promise it, and not deliver.

What we can bring to the table

We're a non-profit social-purpose workers' co-operative, with tax ID F66502881 and the official distinction for socially committed businesses. We can supply the documentation that proves it, the list of producers we work with, and the relevant certificates.