In the same way that many people save for a ‘rainy day’ several clients are happy to identify savings and realise them when contracts have expired, and the time is right.
In the case of Ardingly College we carried out three detailed audits – Catering, Waste and Janitorial each of which identified significant savings opportunities.
Catering
In a school of this size (820 day and boarding pupils) their budget is significant as they cater over 1,000 meals every day.
Using 3 months supplier invoices our catering partner – who as food procurement and margin improvement management experts buy on behalf of Michelin starred restaurants, internationally acclaimed hotel groups, well known and well regarded high street restaurant chains as well as a number of independent schools – identified a saving opportunity of more than 10% of current budget.
How? As our partner spends over £400m annually the prices they have in place with key suppliers such as 3663 and Brakes are significantly lower than a single school could negotiate.
Plus, they recognise the importance of local suppliers – helping maintain the local economy and the issue of ‘food miles’ – so make a point of having similar agreements with local as well as national suppliers.
Waste
The waste stream for a school of this size is sizeable and varied – general, food, building materials etc.
Our waste partner was to identify a financial saving of almost 20% and in parallel set the school on track to move from around 100% to landfill to 80% recycled in year one with the objective to move to 100% recycling over time.
As important for communication to the school, the pupils and stakeholders is the fact that the College is able, in real time using our partners on line waste transfer tracking programme, see how much they have recycled that week, that month and from the beginning of the contract.
Janitorial Supplies
An often-overlooked cost base is that of janitorial supplies. It should not be.
Not just because the budgets are often worthy of review but also because using our partner there are significant time savings that can be made.
Reviewing the College’s supplies resulted in savings of around 20%.
However, there were also ‘intangible’ savings in the form of time.
As our partner is able to supply the entire range of materials required – from hand towels to rubber gloves, bin bags to cleaning materials – which makes ordering (whether online, email or over the phone) easier and quicker and as they invoice just once each month their 12 invoices will replace more than the 100 which they currently receive.
