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Empowering caterers with technology case study

Blog
The YPO Team
03 Jul 2025

Current challenges

School and hospital caterers across the UK face growing pressure to deliver safe, nutritious, and efficient meal services in increasingly complex environments.

Rising costs of food, labour, and catering supplies are straining existing tight budgets. At the same time, expectations around allergen safety, sustainability, and compliance continue to grow in the catering industry. The need to do more with less, while keeping every plate safe and every service and operation efficient, is now business as usual.

But advanced technology is starting to change that.

Our partnership with Civica

Since 2016, YPO has offered a dedicated framework to help schools and local authorities source catering technology that supports safer, smarter and efficient meal services.

As a key provider, YPO has been in partnership with Civica, a market-leading software company, for almost 10 years, aiming to create software that helps deliver critical services to citizens all around the world.

Civica provides smart, cloud-based catering management and cashless software to help public sector caterers deliver vital services, safely, sustainably, and on a scale.
Civica is a pre-approved supplier, and have been successful on our two previous Frameworks as well as our current Framework: Electronic Catering Management and Payment Solutions – 1205 – Framework.

The roundtable: What we explored

Civica also partakes in wider conversations that drive positive change in catering services within health and education sectors. Most recently, the company hosted a roundtable event in partnership with Public Sector Catering, focusing on the theme “Empowering Caterers with Technology”.

The event brought together several senior figures from across the public sector to explore how advanced digital tools can support caterers and decision-makers to drive operational efficiency, ensure food safety, and improve the mealtime experience in schools and hospitals.

Panel attendees included:

• Stewart Mcluskey, Executive Director for Education, Civica
• Andrew Pond, Sales Director for Education, Civica
• Judith Gregory, Chair, LACA
• Iain Robertson, Chair, HCA
• Nicola Strawther, Vice Chair, HCA
• Craig Smith, Editor, Hospital Caterer (HCA publication)
• Glenn Campbell, Consultant, Cohesion
• John Cunningham, Chief Executive, Foodservice Equipment Association
• Myles Bremner, Education Consultant, Bremner Consulting
• Alistair Dales, Managing Director for Education, ISS
• Julian Fris, Consultant, Neller Davies
• David Foad, Editor, Public Sector Catering (Chair)

The session offered a platform for rich, collaborative discussion across health and education sectors, highlighting how data, systems, and smart integration are reshaping public sector catering, making it safer, leaner, and more responsive to real-world needs.

Quote

Stewart Mcluskey, Executive Director of Education at Civica, said:

“We see the drive and desire to serve great, healthy meals, and we hear first-hand how much caterers care about protecting the people they feed. The core purpose remains the same: feeding healthy, nutritious meals to millions every day. For many, it might be the best meal they eat that day.”

During the event, the panel explored how leveraging technology can further support caterers:

- Reduce risk: Real-time allergen tracking and hygiene controls help teams deliver safer meals with less manual oversight.

- Improve performance: Smart systems support cost control, reduce waste, and align supply with demand, boosting profitability.

- Enhance customer experience: Digital menus and displaying clear allergen/nutritional information builds trust and supports suitable food choices.

- Adopt innovation: Practical tools like AI and automated dashboards streamline operations and unlock efficiency.

- Build staff confidence: Accessible training ensures teams use tech effectively - maximising value and uptake.

The solution

To meet today’s challenges head-on, caterers are beginning to utilise smarter, more connected technology. From allergen tracking and stock control to menu planning and reporting, these tools are already helping teams reduce waste, stay compliant, and serve great food with confidence.

You can dive deeper into the discussion in Civica’s roundtable recap:

Empowering Caterers with Technology | Civica.

An easy way to get started

You can contract directly with Civica through YPO’s Electronic Catering Management and Payment Solutions – 1205 – Framework. This fully compliant, free-to-access route gives you a simple and reliable way to work with trusted suppliers like Civica, each rigorously assessed to ensure quality, value, and service you can count on.

By using the framework, you can set up a direct agreement with Civica and receive tailored support on your terms with flexible ordering and delivery to suit your needs.

As YPO is 100% publicly owned, this compliant and free-to-use solution aims to support your procurement goals and fulfil education sector objectives.

Need support? Our procurement team is on hand to guide you every step of the way.

Explore our extensive range of procurement frameworks here.

Author

The YPO Team

YPO supplies products and services to a wide range of customers including schools, local authorities, charities, emergency services, public sector and other businesses such as nurseries and care homes. YPO are 100% publicly owned, by 13 local authorities, which means the profits made are returned to public sector customers, delivering even better value for money.