Opening Date For The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre

Northumberland National Park Authority has confirmed its £14.8m state-of the-art visitor centre will officially open to the public on Saturday 29^th July 2017. The public opening is taking place during National Parks Week, an annual celebration of Britain’s 15 National Parks.

The Sill is the UK’s first National Landscape Discovery Centre and the result of an innovative partnership between Northumberland National Park Authority and YHA (England and Wales).

Located in the heart of Hadrian’s Wall UNESCO World Heritage Site and within Northumberland National Park the building sits sympathetically in the landscape and is at the forefront of sustainable design.

The Sill: National Discovery Centre features fixed and temporary exhibitions focusing on landscape, culture and heritage, several learning and event spaces, a 90 seater café showcasing local produce, a world-class Youth Hostel, a rural business hub to house and support new and emerging rural enterprises, a shop with local produce, arts and crafts, a tourist information service and a fully accessible Whin Sill grassland roof, planted to replicate the unique natural grassland of the surrounding area.

Appointed by Northumberland National Park Authority Montfort Catering Consultants have been working with the project team to develop the visitor café concept and business potential. To see more about this exciting project and our involvement click here.

Image: Northumberland National Park Authority

Montfort Catering Consultants

Z-arts Café – Capital Project Development Planning

Z-arts is Manchester’s dedicated venue for children, families and friends, with a mission to inspire and enable generations of young people from across Manchester and beyond to utilise their creativity to maximise their potential.

Z-arts run 18 different weekly participatory classes in all art forms for children aged 0-13 in their artistic hub which houses a 230 seat theatre, gallery, music room, dance studio and various activity rooms as well as a busy café.

The iconic Edwardian building was redeveloped as a multi-purpose arts centre in 2002 and the organisation has recently shifted its emphasis to become Manchester’s venue for children and families. As such, the aim is to make some improvements to the building to better serve the needs of visitors and make a more family friendly environment with a more light and airy feel to the café, reception and gallery areas.

Montfort Catering Consultants have recently been supporting Z-arts determine outline considerations for the future food and beverage operation within a redeveloped building. Specifically this has included defining the most appropriate operation to initially support a funding application as well as acting as a guide for the design planning. Specifically we have supported with:

• Determining the future aspirations and objectives for the café.
• Assessment of market requirements and environmental factors.
• Future demand, financial potential and business case, benchmarked against a wide range of comparable organisations.
• Food and beverage requirements/considerations.
• Outline conceptual style and operating parameters.

Montfort Catering Consultants

Sotheby’s – Gallery 1 & 2 Coffee Bar

Sotheby’s is located in the heart of London’s Mayfair district on New Bond Street. Sotheby’s auctions offer an extraordinary diversity of objects and works of art from Impressionist & Modern Art and Contemporary Art to Old Master Paintings, 19^th Century European Art and Islamic Art, as well as Decorative Art from porcelain and silver to French & English furniture amongst others.

Montfort Catering Consultants have recently been supporting Sotheby’s, providing assistance and specialist catering consultancy advice to increase patronage of their newly opened Gallery 1 & 2 Coffee Bar.

Our initial work has included undertaking a high level operational review of Gallery 1 & 2 Coffee Bar, including menu style & relevance, quality & value for money, staffing & service style, internal signage, marketing, merchandising & branding and general layout observations. In addition, we considered the appropriateness of existing marketing and communications channels along with identifying additional and alternative approaches to marketing and communications.

The detailed recommendations have been well received and are in the process of being implemented.

Montfort Catering Consultants

Tender opportunity – Middlesbrough Town Hall

Out to Lunch Visitor Attraction Campaign 2016, Soil Association

During the summer the Soil Association worked with a team of ‘secret diner’ parents to compile a league table ranking the food and drink offer at the UK’s favourite days out – zoos, theme parks, museums, art galleries, visitor centres and botanic gardens.

We are delighted to see two of the organisations we have worked with in the top 4 – Chester Zoo (2^nd) and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo (4^th).

For the full league table click on this link.

Click on the following links to read more about our work with Chester Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade. Please do get in touch if you would like an informal chat about how we can develop and support your visitor catering.

Montfort Catering Consultants

Contact – Catering Partner / Expressions of Interest

We have recently been supporting Contact by undertaking a catering strategy, feasibility study and business planning for their exciting capital development project. With a significant proportion of the funding now in place, we are now supporting Contact secure a catering partner to provide cafe, bar and event services in a ‘new’ Contact. Please see below for further details.