BidSkim
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Service market

Education catering contracts

UK public sector · 178 contracts awarded in the 12 months to 6 October 2026

Covering 600+ buyer portals · 5 years of records · Updated 6 October 2026 · How we count

Contracts awarded
178
Last 12 months
Median contract
£2.0m
Recorded value
Recorded value
£886m
174 of 178 main-service contracts have a published value
Buyers
160
Suppliers
51

BidSkim assigns contracts to services from the notice text. How services are assigned

What stands out

  • The five suppliers that won the most education catering contracts took 42% of them (74 of 178).
  • Contracts awarded per quarter fell 19% from the first half of the period to the second.
  • The median contract, £2.0m, is 10 times the median across catering & hospitality contracts (£204k).
  • London had the most contracts: 40, or 23% of the total.

Who buys education catering

By contracts awarded, the 12 months to 6 October 2026.

  1. 1Educo9 contracts
  2. 2PROCUREMENT FOR SCHOOLS LTD3 contracts
  3. 3Consortium Trust3 contracts
  4. 4The 3-18 Education Trust2 contracts
  5. 5The David Ross Education Trust2 contracts
  6. 6Alcester Grammar school2 contracts
  7. 7Endeavour Multi Academy Trust2 contracts
  8. 8West Sussex County Council1 contract
  9. 9East Sussex County Council1 contract
  10. 10GLF SCHOOLS1 contract

Top education catering contractors by contracts won

The 12 months to 6 October 2026.

  1. 1Aspens Services Limited21 contracts
  2. 2Caterlink17 contracts
  3. 3Olive Dining14 contracts
  4. 4Innovate Services Ltd13 contracts
  5. 5Stir Food11 contracts
  6. 6Accent Catering9 contracts
  7. 7Culinera8 contracts
  8. 8Edwards and Ward Limited8 contracts
  9. 9Mellors Catering Services Limited7 contracts
  10. 10ABM Catering Solutions7 contracts

Latest and largest awards

Each links to the official notice.

Latest

Largest

Contracts awarded by quarter

28Q4 2025*31Q1 202693Q2 202625Q3 20261Q4 2026*
* part quarter

Where the contracts were awarded

England 175 · Northern Ireland 2 · Wales 1

London40West Midlands29South East26East Midlands19South West17East of England16North West9Yorkshire and The Humber7North East5Northern Ireland2Wales1UK-wide or not stated7

What is included

A contract caterer staffs and runs the kitchens in one school or across a trust, cluster or district, serving daily lunches (often with breakfast, break service and staff hospitality) to the School Food Standards, including universal infant free school meals.

  • Primary, secondary, all-through, special and sixth form school catering
  • Multi-academy trust, federation and school cluster catering contracts
  • Council school meals service for maintained schools
  • Free school meals, morning break, staff meals and school hospitality within the contract
  • School catering framework lots
  • School and early years meals bought together

What is not included

  • Hot meals cooked elsewhere and delivered to schools without a kitchen -> cat.edu.transported-school-meals
  • Further education, university and training college catering -> cat.edu.college-university-catering
  • One contract covering schools and other setting types -> cat.mgmt.multi-setting-contract-catering
  • Food supplied by category or as a full range to school kitchens -> cat.food.full-range-foodservice-distribution or the category's cat.food service
  • Pre-prepared chilled or frozen meals supplied to school kitchens -> cat.food.frozen-and-chilled-food
  • School hospitality and functions bought on their own -> cat.event.meeting-and-hospitality-catering
  • Cashless catering and school meal payment systems -> it.lob.school-payments-and-cashless-catering
  • Agency school cooks -> another industry: recruitment-hr

Often bought by the same buyers