---
title: "Strategic Catering Partner for Catering Venues across County Durham"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-05d65a"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05d65a"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05d65a.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05d65a.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Tender"
buyer: "DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL"
published: "2026-03-24"
---

# Strategic Catering Partner for Catering Venues across County Durham

Buyer: DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL  
Current stage: Tender  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-05d65a

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## Summary

Durham County Council is executing a procurement process to appoint a Strategic Catering Partner for its diverse array of public-facing venues, including leisure, cultural, and heritage sites across County Durham. The tender, entitled "Strategic Catering Partner for Catering Venues across County Durham," spans the services category and aims to align with the Council's vision of delivering sustainable, customer-focused catering services that promote high-quality, nutritional, locally sourced food. The procurement has advanced to the tender stage as of 24th March 2026, with submissions due by 20th April 2026 and enquiries closing on 15th April 2026. The procurement is carried out through an open procedure under the 'light touch' regime, with the competition concluding with an award period ending on 6th October 2026. This tender notably invites businesses to partake in a multi-stage process, potentially extending across a ten-year contract period.

The tender presents significant opportunities for businesses, especially those with experience in large-scale catering operations within public environments. Companies skilled in managing diverse service approaches and financially equipped to invest in improving operational efficiencies may find prolific growth prospects here. The contract, valued at an estimated £24 million, encourages innovative solutions that align with the Council's modernisation goals. Bidders must demonstrate economic stability with a turnover exceeding £30 million and technical deftness through proven success stories from similar operations. This venture is promising for entities capable of integrating local suppliers and those with strategic visions for elevating customer experiences across multiple venues, including museums, leisure centres, and cultural sites. The suggested competitive dialogue phases offer dynamic interaction opportunities for showcasing unique propositions that meet the Council's aspiration for a transformative catering service.

## Notice

Durham County Council (DCC) is seeking to secure a strategic partner, following a corporate wide catering review, to deliver catering services across a wide range of public facing venues. The Council currently has 15 customer-facing venues across a diverse portfolio of leisure, cultural, heritage and visitor locations. Existing operational arrangements include internally managed sites and third-party operated venues. This has resulted in a wide range of service approaches and financial profiles, presenting opportunities to enhance service alignment, scale efficiencies and elevate customer experience. The Council has developed a strong vision for this Procurement. Bidders will be invited to propose solutions, throughout the various stages of the procurement process, which align with this vision: 'To deliver a modern, financially sustainable and customer-focused catering service that enhances the experience of residents and visitors, champions local suppliers and ensures high-quality and nutritious, venue-appropriate food across in-scope venues.' The procurement exercise is being run as a multiple stage Competitive Flexible procedure pursuant to the section 20 2(b) of PA23. This procurement exercise is also being undertaken to award a light touch contract, that is, a contract that is wholly or mainly for the supply of services as specified in Procurement Regulations 2024, Schedule 1. The Council reserves the right to amend the procurement exercise in line with PA23, s31 and/or refine the evaluation criteria in accordance with PA23, s24.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

Renewal: The maximum Contract period will be 10 years, with an initial term to be discussed with Bidders during the procurement process and an option for the Council to extend for a further period to bring the term to a maximum of 10 years from the contract start date, subject to performance and review of the Council's estate and ongoing catering requirements.

### Planning Information

Durham County Council (DCC) are looking to explore the market options in relation to a corporate wide catering review and externally delivered catering solution across a number of its public facing venues.
The Council has taken time to consider its position and ability to deliver a catering offer through its public facing venues and initial input from the market through previous market engagement exercises. The Council has now identified two key delivery routes which it would like to explore further. This exercise is to help support the Council's decision making going forward and consider information provided by the market on the level of interest from external provision, potential lease options and key areas of information required to help the Council in any potential Procurement activity.
The Council has identified the following venues to be in scope of this market engagement opportunity:
• Abbey Leisure Centre
• Bishop Auckland Leisure Centre
• Bishop Auckland Town Hall
• Durham Dales Tearoom
• Durham Leadership Centre
• Empire Theatre, Consett
• Gala Theatre
• Hardwick Park
• Killhope Lead Mining Museum
• Peterlee Leisure Centre
• Spennymoor Leisure Centre
• The Dunes Café
• The Light (formerly known as the Durham Light Infantry Museum)
• The Louisa Centre
• The Story
• Wharton Park
Please note this is a Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) opportunity only at this stage. We are welcoming written responses to our PME questionnaire at this stage. The questionnaire can be accessed free of charge by registering on the Open Portal at open-uk.org. Search for '002777 - Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) for Strategic Catering Opportunities across County Durham.' Download, complete and submit the PME Questionnaire through the Open Portal by Wednesday 3rd December 2025 at 12 noon.
The estimated contract value includes all venues within scope, however we also welcome responses from SMEs who may be interested in one or more venue.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/026938-2026 |
| Notice type | UK4 - Tender Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | Not specified |
| All stages | Planning, Tender |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 24 Mar 2026 |
| Submission deadline | 20 Apr 2026 |
| Future notice date | 19 Mar 2026 |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 31 Mar 2027 - 31 Mar 2033 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £20,000,000 |
| Lots value | £20,000,000 |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Active |
| Lots status | Active |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL |
| Locality | DURHAM |
| Post town | Durham |
| Postcode | DH1 5WB |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLC North East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLC4 Northumberland, Durham and Tyne & Wear |
| ITL 3 | TLC41 Durham |
| Local authority | County Durham |
| Electoral ward | Framwellgate and Newton Hall |
| Westminster constituency | City of Durham |
| Delivery location | TLC14 Durham |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 55 - Hotel, restaurant and retail trade services

### Codes

- 55520000 - Catering services

## Release History

- 24 Mar 2026 at 15:24 - Tender - UK4 - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/026938-2026
- 16 Mar 2026 at 17:34 - Planning - UK1 - Pipeline Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/023758-2026
- 29 Oct 2025 at 14:34 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/069429-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/026938-2026
  24th March 2026 - Tender notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/023758-2026
  16th March 2026 - Pipeline notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/069429-2025
  29th October 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- www.open-uk.org
  Tender documents can be accessed free of charge by registering on the Open Portal at www.open-uk.org

## Notice URLs

- http://www.durham.gov.uk/
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05d65a. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05d65a.json.