A free on-line consultancy service - www.caterchat.com - has been launched by catering consultancy Catercheck. The website is aimed at users who contract out their catering as well as those who provide it in-house.

Vic Tippins, Managing Director of Catercheck

This online service, the first one of its kind in the UK, aims to deliver the benefits of e-business to the catering industry. There are many services available on CaterChat, including a ;'Value for Money Assessment', free of charge to contracted clients.

The 'Are you paying too much?' option allows clients to enter current invoice details, cash sales, employment costs etc. The form is then submitted to Catercheck who will analyse the costings for discrepancies. Using 'Gross Profit Calculator' the client enters current selling prices for a range of items and the gross margin is calculated and displayed. This provides an instant benchmark for clients to compare with their existing gross margin.

Catercheck, launched in 1993, provides services to a range of clients, including schools, business and industry and the public sector. It consists of two divisions - the Catercheck Catering Consultancy and the Catercheck Purchasing Group.

Of particular interests to FM's is the opportunity to score your catering contractor on a number of criteria in the on-line monthly poll.

Anna Lagerkvist