Catering tenders in the UK: where to find them and which to bid for

Published 30 October 2026

Schools, councils and other public buyers pay for catering and food supply, from school meals to staff canteens. Catering lots get few bids: in our sample, almost half had only one. This guide covers where catering tenders are advertised, how many there are, how competitive they are, what buyers check and how to choose which ones to bid on.

Where catering tenders are advertised

• Find a Tender (find-tender.service.gov.uk) is the main place. Since the Procurement Act 2023 came in on 24 February 2025, it has been part of the government's Central Digital Platform, which carries both larger and smaller notices for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It's free to search, and you can set up email alerts.
• Contracts Finder (contractsfinder.service.gov.uk) still lists procurements that started under the old rules before 24 February 2025. Very little catering work shows up there now.
• Scotland has its own procurement rules and its own portal, Public Contracts Scotland.

For contracts worth at least £30,000 including tax (£12,000 for central government, which now includes NHS trusts), a buyer that advertises the contract has to publish a notice on the Central Digital Platform first, under section 87 of the Procurement Act. Schools are exempt from these below-threshold notice rules.

How many are there?

We counted notices whose main classification code is catering services or food and drink supply. Between 1 September and 28 October 2026, Find a Tender had about 31 new catering tender notices a month, and about 7 a month stated a value under £500,000. Notices that didn't state a value aren't in that figure.

Contracts Finder had only about 1 or 2 new catering opportunities a month between July and October 2026. Buyers marked all of them as suitable for small or medium-sized suppliers, but that's a very small sample.

Who wins them

Of the 31 catering contracts awarded on Contracts Finder between 1 July and 28 October 2026, 10 (32%) went to small and medium-sized businesses. Those are small numbers, so they can swing a lot from one period to the next. Our sector breakdown compares catering with the other sectors.

How competitive are they?

Some award notices say how many bids each lot received. Across 31 catering lots with a published count, the median was 2 bids, and 45% had only one. That's a small sample, so treat it as a rough guide. Our guide to how many bids public tenders get compares the sectors.

For larger competitive tenders under £5 million, the contract award notice usually shows how many tenders came in and how many were from small businesses. Looking up past catering awards from the same buyer tells you what you're up against.

What buyers usually ask a catering business for

Every tender is different, so read the documents. These come up often:

• Food business registration. The Food Standards Agency says anyone who sells, cooks, stores, handles, prepares or distributes food may be a food business and need to register with the local authority, at least 28 days before trading. If you work from more than one site, each site is registered with its own local authority.
• School food standards. In England, the school food standards are mandatory for all maintained schools, academies and free schools. Where a private caterer provides the food, the Department for Education says compliance should be written into the catering contract, and the caterer should give the governing body evidence that it complies. The rules are in the Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014.
• Changes from September 2027. Subject to Parliamentary approval, updated school food standards will come in from September 2027, and the Department for Education is asking schools to review menus, contracts and procurement arrangements. If a contract would run past September 2027, ask the buyer which standards it expects you to meet.
• Allergen information. The Food Information Regulations 2014 require all food businesses, including school caterers, to show allergen information for the food they serve.
• Government Buying Standards. Central government departments must meet the minimum mandatory Government Buying Standards for food and catering services, and Defra encourages the wider public sector to specify them in tenders. Expect questions on sourcing and sustainability.
• Registration on the Central Digital Platform. Before a contract is awarded, the buyer needs your registration and unique identifier. Since 1 April 2026 that applies to smaller contracts too, before the buyer publishes the contract details notice. Registration is free. Our Central Digital Platform guide walks through it.
• Quality answers. In our count of notices that published award criteria, 11 of 59 catering notices (19%) had a criterion with "social value" in its name or description. That's a small sample. Our social value guide covers how to answer one.
• Proportionate conditions. For larger contracts, buyers can only test your legal and financial capacity and your technical ability, and only in ways that are proportionate to the contract.

Which ones to skip

A bid takes time. The FSB found that it takes small businesses five days on average to prepare a bid. Before you start, check:

1. Size. Can you cover every site and every service day from day one, with the kitchen, staff and cover you have?
2. Location. Sites a long way from your kitchen or base add travel and delivery costs you have to price in.
3. Standards. Make sure your registration, menus and allergen information already meet what the contract asks for before you spend time on the bid.
4. Time left. Under the Procurement Act, a larger open tender usually gets at least 25 days, and in some cases as few as 10. Smaller contracts only need a reasonable period.
5. Fit with your evidence. If you have no similar contract to point to, a smaller lot or a single site is a better first win.

For more on where to start, see our guide to tender help for small businesses.

Get the catering shortlist

UK Tender Desk, from Your Evenings Ltd (that's us), is a one-off £149 diagnostic for small businesses in construction trades, training, transport, care, cleaning and catering. It's done for you. We look at live tenders on Find a Tender and Contracts Finder, pick up to 5 that suit a business your size, and tell you what to fix before you bid. It arrives by email within 5 working days of your form, with no call. If it's late, you don't pay. If no live tender fits, we say so and why.

See what the diagnostic looks like · Get your tender shortlist for £149

Sources

• Find a Tender and Contracts Finder
• Procurement Act 2023, section 87 (below-threshold notices) and section 22 (conditions of participation)
• GOV.UK: Guidance: Below-Threshold Contracts
• The Procurement Regulations 2024, regulation 36A (supplier registration, from 1 April 2026)
• GOV.UK: Time periods guidance
• GOV.UK: Contract award notices and standstill guidance
• Food Standards Agency on GOV.UK: Food business registration (last updated 25 June 2026, read 30 October 2026)
• Department for Education: School food in England (last updated 14 September 2026, read 30 October 2026)
• The Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014 (read 30 October 2026)
• Defra: Sustainable procurement: the GBS for food and catering services (last updated 18 August 2021, read 30 October 2026)
• FSB press release, 15 December 2025
• Our counts: Find a Tender and Contracts Finder open data (OCDS), counted by Your Evenings Ltd on 30 October 2026. Catering is classification codes 555 (canteen and catering services) and 15 (food and drink products), so it includes some food supply contracts as well as catering services. The Contracts Finder, bids and social value samples are small.

This guide summarises the official sources above. It isn't legal advice. Check the notice and tender documents for each contract.

Written with AI assistance by the Your Evenings team at Your Evenings Ltd. Last updated 30 October 2026.