New caterers sought for City menu

CITY of Greater Bendigo staff are again on the lookout for catering providers to supply food and drink to municipal functions.

As part of the process hospitality businesses are being asked to tender to join what is being termed a ‘catering panel’, essentially a list of approved suppliers.

The move comes as a rolling five-year tender program, that started last September, was reopened with the aim of adding new service providers each year.

City manager of active and healthy communities Amy Johnston said the municipality was committed to promoting healthy choices.

“That also includes providing healthy catering options for specific City-run functions, meetings, and events that limit food miles, use local seasonal products where possible, and minimise packaging and waste,” said Ms Johnston.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for caterers and hospitality businesses to join the City’s Catering Panel.”

Ms Johnston said the municipality wanted to make the process as easy as possible and businesses could use the Food Checker website by the Victorian Government to assist their planning.

“Caterers selected for the panel can also appear in the Greater Bendigo’s healthy catering guide which is available on the City’s website and Bendigo Community Health Service’s website for use by local businesses and the community,” she said.

“This is a great way to raise your profile and expand your business activities locally as those listed comply with the Victorian Government’s Healthy Choices Guidelines for workplace catering.”

The City said the services of catering groups selected for the panel will be called upon on an as-needs basis and most orders would need to be dropped off at event locations.

Tenders submitted with the aim of seeing a business added to the list of approved suppliers should address things like City’s Healthy Food and Catering policy and the Waste Wise Events Single-Use Plastic policy.