Hospitality Partner Expressions of Interest – The Whitaker Museum & Gallery

Background

The Whitaker Museum is an award winning, free to enter museum, art gallery, café and events location in Rossendale, managed by a registered charity, the Whitaker Organisation.  Trustees and staff have a shared vision to provide world class arts and culture facilities, display and curate the local heritage and art collection in an exciting and engaging way.

The Whitaker is a National Portfolio Organisation supported by Arts Council England.  The Whitaker team delivers a diverse programme of school and community engagement projects intended to inspire, excite and interest local people and visitors in thought provoking, mission driven displays and exhibitions.

You can learn more about the mission, values and the work of the Whitaker team at www.whitaker.org

The Museum reopened in July 2021 after extensive renovation funded from the National Lottery Fund for Heritage to provide facilities for a café/restaurant and events venue suitable for business functions, private parties and weddings.

The Museum ran an in-house hospitality offer from July 2021 to May 2024.  Elior, a national hospitality business, has run the hospitality function under contract since May 2024.  The Elior partnership will end on the 7th May 2025.

The Whitaker currently opens 10-4 Wednesday to Sunday with late opening on Thursdays.

Service Scope

The Whitaker Board is seeking a hospitality partner that will be able to provide a food and beverage offer compatible with the brand attributes and visitor profiles of the Whitaker, utilising local and regional produce wherever possible, and creating a distinctive, destination offering that builds a good reputation, drives footfall and becomes a reason to visit the Whitaker

The Whitaker Board is looking for interested parties to consider how they would optimise the value of the kitchen, cafe and events spaces.  The Board is open minded to proposals that drive footfall, revenue and a positive customer experience.

We are interested in partners who are interested in operating a cafe/restaurant and/or an events operation.  We are prepared to partner with one or more parties to achieve our goals.  Our preference is for a single partner to manage the hospitality spaces and ideally allow for a combination of day-to-day catering as well as supporting events, either within the Cafe and Old Stables spaces or within the Museum itself.

We would welcome a collaborative approach with an operator which would allow for regular review of menus and prices (along with providing sample dishes), reaching agreement with the Whitaker in advance and prior to use. This is to ensure that the pricing and selection of dishes is offered in line with the visitor profile and brand attributes of the Whitaker as part of the wider offer.

The Whitaker seeks to play a positive role in the local economy, and therefore, wherever possible withing the agreed price and quality parameters, we seek operator that would make every endeavour to utilise produce and services that are locally sourced.

Regarding the event opportunities, the Whitaker already has its own strong ongoing events programme, including film nights, National Theatre Live, talks etc, that any operator can work with us on. In addition we are open to discussing regular access to flexible spaces for other private events, that can take place both when the museum is open or closed. The Whitaker is not looking for additional arts events, but is open to consider an operator using areas for events and functions related to the likes of private bookings, weddings and life-stage events, or food and drink offerings, in order to increase revenues and make optimum use of the facilities available.

In line with our aspirations, while meeting its own commercial goals, primary motivations for the service supplier would be to provide a quality service, meet the needs of visitors, deliver on market opportunities, enhance the reputation of the Whitaker as a destination and venue, and to deliver a positive net financial contribution to the Whitaker to support its wider purpose. We would want the service supplier to be proactive and apply their own resources to ensure that the food and beverage offer is marketed positively. The supplier would seek to work with the Whitaker to ensure that all promotional channels are effectively used to drive footfall, support the Whitaker brand and enhance reputation.

Interested firms/organisations should forward their Expression of Interest by e-mail to Gaynor Seville – gaynor@thewhitaker.org by January 31, 2025.

Should you have any questions or wish to talk through this opportunity, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Please use the attached form along with any further information you wish to submit at this stage.

Posted on January 16th, 2025