Kiddi Caru

Significant savings on food – the right recipe for Kiddi Caru

The network of twenty-plus Kiddi Caru day nurseries in central and southern England is part of The  Childcare Corporation, a company founded upon wholly ethical principles to promote quality nursery provision.

John Loveless of Expense Reduction Analysts takes up the story of the partnership between his company and Kiddi  Caru: “At my first meeting with Adrian Moore in 2008, he identified food purchasing as a significant cost area, and one  that could benefit from some detailed analysis. I was fortunate to be able to call upon the expertise of my colleague,  Andy MacDonald, to undertake this work.”

Andy MacDonald continues: “Kiddi Caru has around 20 nurseries, so I analysed a selection of invoices from settings of various sizes, comparing and contrasting food purchasing levels, unit prices and costs per head, and I presented my findings to Adrian.”

Adrian Moore remembers that meeting: “I had known that there were some inconsistencies in the way in which we purchased, and probably some opportunities to leverage economies of scale. But what Andy and John reported made me realise that this review was something that offered a platform from which to launch a whole new methodology of food procurement.”

£77,500 savings on food – and a more nutritious menu

Andy MacDonald again: “Instead of each nursery concocting it’s own menu and buying food in a random, unconsolidated way, Adrian saw that, if we could develop a menu that every nursery would be happy to follow, find a supplier who could deliver every item, and then ensure that the nurseries continued to adhere to this core menu, the potential savings were immense.

“But that was not all. When we talked to the potential suppliers, we asked them to help Kiddi Caru to achieve their nutritional goals as well as their financial ones. Understanding the value of this to all parties, the suppliers offered the services of an educational nutritionist as part of the deal. Kiddi Caru assumed they would have to pay for such advice, so they were very impressed that we were able to source it free of charge.”

The supplier was chosen, the menus were devised and the nurseries started to buy their food from the one source. This resulted in £77,500 worth of savings on an annual food bill of £365,000. In addition, of course, the company now enjoys complete control over its food purchasing, as well as reduced administration in dealing with only one supplier. And perhaps most importantly, The Childcare Corporation is confident that the nutrition that it offers its children is of the highest standard – something that they are not afraid to highlight in their marketing material.

Adrian Moore sums up the value of Expense Reduction Analysts to his company: “The nursery marketplace is getting more and more competitive, and, with many families’ budgets under pressure, we have to ensure that we provide a premium service at a rate that is affordable for our customers but also profitable for us. Expense Reduction Analysts have helped us on all aspects of this strategy: the cost reduction that they have delivered means that we have more profit to invest back into the business; their supplier consolidation reduces our admin; their ongoing reporting ensures that we retain control; and the enhanced nutrition that they have sourced for us has provided us with a huge differentiator in our marketplace. I am delighted with John and Andy’s input and I have already asked Expense Reduction Analysts to look at our energy and water expenditure.”

“Expense Reduction Analysts have transformed our food purchasing and our food provision. Not only are we now able to control our expenditure and generate significant savings in this area, but we are also able to offer our children an even more nutritious and balanced diet. We feel that this aspect of our care is so important that we now highlight it in our marketing.” Adrian Moore, Finance Director, The Childcare Corporation.