The Litmus Partnership was appointed in 2003 to assist the Institute to tender the catering services at both sites, provide ongoing monitoring support and ensure that agreed KPI’s were achieved.
Read moreWorkplace Catering & Soft FM Purchasing Consultancy
Litmus helps businesses and workplaces improve the value, quality and performance of catering, cleaning and soft facilities services across complex operations.
Helping Organisations Deliver Value, Efficiency and Quality Across Complex Operations
Organisations today face constant pressure to achieve more with less. For businesses managing multi-site estates, complex supply chains or outsourced service contracts, it can be difficult to balance cost, compliance, service quality and operational performance.
The Litmus Partnership helps private sector organisations review, source and manage catering, cleaning and soft facilities services that deliver measurable value. We combine independent consultancy, benchmarking data and hands-on operational experience to help clients make better decisions and create more effective service models.
How can Litmus support catering services and soft facilities services?
Litmus helps organisations improve how they design, source, manage, and measure essential workplace services.
Our support can cover catering, including contract catering that provides tailored food services for sectors such as offices, hospitals, schools and industrial sites, as well as cleaning, soft facilities management, procurement, benchmarking, supplier performance, mobilisation and contract management. Whether you are reviewing an existing provider, preparing for a tender, consolidating services across multiple sites or looking for greater value from your supply chain, we help you understand the opportunity and put the right solution in place.
We focus on practical improvement: better value, stronger supplier performance, improved compliance, and a better experience for employees, customers, and stakeholders.
What workplace challenges can Litmus help solve?
Private sector organisations often manage essential services across multiple locations, suppliers and internal teams. This can create complexity, especially when contracts have evolved over time, when existing providers no longer offer a flexible solution for workplace dining, or when service performance is difficult to measure consistently, particularly ahead of tenders or across multi-site operations.
Litmus can help with challenges such as:
- Rising catering, cleaning or facilities service costs
- Inconsistent service quality across multiple sites
- Limited visibility of supplier performance
- Complex or fragmented procurement arrangements
- Unclear contract governance
- Upcoming tender or retender requirements
- Mobilisation planning for new providers
- Benchmarking costs against the wider market
- Improving employee experience through better workplace services
By combining data, sector insight and operational expertise, we help clients create a clearer route to improved performance.
How do we help organisations get more value and commercial sense from suppliers?
Strong supplier management is essential to achieving long-term value from catering, cleaning and soft facilities contracts.
Litmus helps clients review supplier performance, benchmark pricing, assess total value rather than just headline prices, assess service levels and identify where contracts can work harder. This may include reviewing current specifications, analysing costs, including long-term ownership costs such as maintenance and replacement, strengthening KPIs, improving reporting, supporting negotiations or preparing for a more structured procurement process.
Our independent view helps organisations understand whether they are receiving the right value, whether service levels are being delivered, and where improvements can be made.
What are the benefits of working with Litmus?
Working with Litmus gives organisations independent support, practical expertise and clearer evidence for decision-making.
Clients benefit from:
- Greater visibility of service costs and supplier performance
- More effective catering, cleaning and soft facilities procurement
- Independent benchmarking and market insight
- Improved contract governance and accountability
- Support with mobilisation and transition
- Better alignment between service quality, cost and employee experience
- Reduced pressure on busy internal teams
- Practical recommendations that can be implemented
Our aim is to help organisations achieve measurable, sustainable improvement across essential workplace services.
How does Litmus support complex and multi-site procurement?
Multi-site procurement requires a clear process, accurate data and strong project management. Without this, organisations can struggle to compare supplier proposals, manage stakeholder expectations or achieve consistency across locations.
Litmus supports complex procurement projects by helping clients define requirements, develop specifications, benchmark costs, assess bids and manage the tender process from start to finish.
Our experience includes large-scale reviews to appoint catering or soft facilities providers across multiple sites, as well as projects involving joint venture models, local authority partners and commercial service providers.
We bring structure, transparency and consistency to the process, helping clients move from tender to delivery with greater confidence.
What does our workplace consultancy support include?
We tailor every project to the client’s operating model, purpose, estate, supplier base, and commercial objectives.
Our workplace consultancy support can include:
- Service reviews and options appraisals
- Catering and soft FM procurement
- Tender management and supplier evaluation
- Benchmarking and cost analysis
- Contract performance reviews
- Mobilisation and transition planning
- Embedded contract management support
- Supplier negotiations and governance
- Catering equipment maintenance contract support
- Ongoing performance monitoring and improvement planning
This allows clients to access the right level and scope of support, from a focused review through to end-to-end procurement and implementation.
Why is benchmarking important for workplace services?
Benchmarking gives organisations the evidence needed to understand whether current service arrangements are delivering value.
For catering, cleaning and soft facilities services, benchmarking can help compare costs, staffing models, supplier pricing, service levels and contract performance against the wider market.
Litmus uses live benchmarking data and market insight to assess bids, test supplier proposals and identify opportunities that may otherwise be missed. This helps clients make decisions based on evidence rather than assumption.
How does Litmus support mobilisation and contract performance?
The success of a new service model depends on what happens after the supplier is appointed.
Litmus supports mobilisation planning to help ensure a smooth transition, clear responsibilities and a positive start for all stakeholders. This can include implementation planning, milestone tracking, communication support, service readiness checks and early-stage performance monitoring.
Once a contract is live, we can also provide contract management and contract performance support, including an embedded Litmus resource within client teams where required. This helps maintain focus on KPIs, supplier accountability, service quality and continuous improvement.
What experience does Litmus bring to workplace clients?
Litmus brings extensive experience across complex operational environments, including workplace, business and industry, education, healthcare and public sector organisations.
Our experience spans more than 25% of the FTSE 100, 20 universities and colleges, 30 independent schools and over 2,000 grammar and multi-academy trust schools.
This breadth of experience means we understand how to manage complexity, balance stakeholder needs and design service models that deliver value without compromising quality or experience.
Set up to succeed
We take pride in our collaborative approach. With experience spanning more than 25% of the FTSE 100, 20 universities and colleges, 30 independent schools and over 2,000 grammar and Multi-Academy Trust schools, we bring proven expertise to complex operational challenges, working closely with business leaders to design and deliver solutions that achieve the right outcomes.
Our capabilities include:
- Managing complex, multi-site procurements with precision and consistency
- Using our extensive live benchmarking database to assess bids and costings accurately, we unearth opportunities that others miss
- Supporting mobilisation planning to ensure a smooth transition and positive start for all stakeholders
Our approach combines data insight, best practice, and hands-on experience – giving our clients complete confidence from tender to delivery.
Client Success Stories
Discover how we’ve helped organisations across education, healthcare, business and the public sector achieve measurable improvements in quality, efficiency and value.
Background The team at NRP were creating a new hub building called Centrum, intended to bring together the various Park Institutes within a core social and work networking space. NRP wanted a café/restaurant and hospitality service within Centrum, and sought expert advice on how this should be designed to best meet the needs of its…
Read moreBackground Litmus was engaged to undertake an in-depth strategic review of the catering, vending, hospitality, cleaning, reception and security services provided across four UK offices (including The Gherkin in London). Brief The services at the four sites were being provided by two contractors. Litmus was tasked with reviewing and analysing options for the service delivery…
Read moreBackground Litmus has been working with the Head of Facilities at Sotheby’s, New Bond Street Complex for over seven years. During that time, Litmus has tendered the cleaning services and the staff catering twice. The catering operation at Sotheby’s New Bond Street Complex is split into various component parts. The Staff Café has been contracted,…
Read moreBackground The Bank provides catering services including staff restaurants, vending and hospitality services in major office locations throughout the world covering 150 locations across 40 countries. The majority of services were outsourced to professional catering contractors. Litmus was commissioned to work alongside and support the project team in undertaking a strategic review of the global…
Read moreBackground CMS engaged Litmus to work with its procurement and facilities teams to manage the catering and hospitality tender for its prestigious London office in Cannon Place and its other UK offices. During the tender CMS Cameron McKenna merged with Nabarro and Olswang, but the decision was taken to continue with the tender and to…
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Take the next step
Looking to improve value, quality or performance across your workplace catering, cleaning or soft facilities services?
Speak to our workplace specialists to explore how Litmus can support your organisation with independent advice, benchmarking, procurement, mobilisation and contract performance support.
Contact Us
We love to connect with business leaders that want to make a change. Contact our friendly team to request a no obligation chat about your current challenges and goals.
Frequently asked questions
What is corporate catering consultancy? Workplace catering consultancy helps organisations review, improve, procure, or manage contract catering services in office, business, and multi-site environments, with services tailored to different sectors. This can include benchmarking costs, reviewing suppliers, improving service quality, managing tenders and supporting contract performance.
How can Litmus help improve contract catering? Litmus can improve workplace and corporate catering for meetings and workplace events by reviewing the current service, analysing cost and performance, benchmarking supplier proposals, supporting procurement, and identifying practical improvements. The aim is to achieve better value, stronger supplier performance and a better experience for employees and visitors. Support can also cover practical service expectations, such as reliable same-day delivery where relevant.
What are soft facilities services? Soft facilities services are people-facing operational services that support the day-to-day running of a workplace. These can include catering, cleaning, security, grounds maintenance and other support services that affect the experience, safety and efficiency of a building or estate.
Can Litmus support multi-site workplace procurement?
Yes. Litmus supports complex, multi-site procurement projects, with support designed to suit organisations of different sizes and requirements, including catering, cleaning, and soft facilities contracts. We can help define requirements, prepare specifications, manage tenders, evaluate suppliers and support mobilisation across multiple locations.
How does Litmus help with supplier performance? Litmus helps organisations review supplier performance using benchmarking, contract analysis, KPIs, reporting and operational insight. This helps clients understand whether suppliers are delivering value and where improvements may be needed.
Can Litmus help after a supplier has been appointed? Yes. Litmus can support mobilisation, transition planning, performance monitoring and ongoing contract management after a supplier has been appointed. This helps ensure the contract is implemented properly and continues to deliver against agreed outcomes.
Does Litmus only work with education clients? No. Litmus works across workplace, business and industry, education, healthcare, public sector and other complex operational environments. The workplace page is focused on private sector and business clients, but draws on wider Litmus experience across service-led organisations.
What is the benefit of using an independent consultancy? An independent consultancy gives organisations an objective view of cost, quality, supplier performance and market value. This helps clients follow a more structured purchasing process, from identifying a need through to decision-making, make better decisions, challenge assumptions and create service models that are commercially sound and operationally practical, with an independent view helping separate evidence-based requirements from marketing claims or emotional bias.