Soft Market Testing Exercise: Extra Care Housing Catering Provision

Stoke on Trent City Council, in partnership with Sapphire, is developing 390 new apartments in an Extra Care Housing settings across three different sites in the City. This will include purpose built catering and restaurant facilities.

The schemes are funded via the Government’s Private Finance Initiative but the catering services to be provided in each home are to be commissioned separately by the Council alone and must be commercially viable. The Housing Learning Improvement Network (Housing LIN) states that the ‘provision of a meal has become one of the defining features of extra care housing’ and these Retirement Village Developments will incorporate restaurant and catering facilities.

These are considered to be a fundamental element of the communal spaces and services offered within modern extra care housing schemes. The Council is now conducting soft market testing and engagement and seeking expressions of interest from experienced individuals and companies wanting to develop their catering business by taking full responsibility for the management of these three restaurants.

In particular, the City Council is keen to attract small and medium sized, local entrepreneurs. NOTE: This request for expressions of interest does not form part of a procurement process. As mentioned above, Stoke-on-Trent City Council is simply conducting a soft market testing exercise and, depending on the circumstances (including the result of this exercise), the City Council does not in any way commit itself to conducting such a procurement process.