Hi Karen,
I have also worked with over 400 cultural institutions in the U.S. and still do on selective basis. If I can help you regarding your inquiry above, I am happy to do one or more calls with you (no charge/cost, of course) to help you decide the best course of action.
I have worked with historic site, including, but not limited to Plimoth Plantation, long ago, Conner Prairie and others from coast to coast with firm I founded in 1993 and sold in 2016. I have continued to work with a number of cultural clients throughout the U.S. with Art Manask Consulting.
My #1 objective is helping and educating clients where/if I can. If I can help further with operator and/or caterer selection I will try to help with that too depending on client needs, timing and, of course, budget, if any for consultant support.
If you would like to do a call, please email me a few days and time of days (EST as I am in PST, 3 hours earlier than you please keep in mind) and I will email you back with confirmation of date, time and number to call. My email is in my signature.
If you would like any client references, feel free to contact Ellie or Ivan at Plimoth and I can provide additional ones if needed from small, medium and large cultural institutions I have worked with over the years.
If you do not have my two books about food services and catering in cultural institutions, both are chock full of actual case studies and they are the only publications / reference works and you might find this helpful. Following is information about them and sourcing if interested.
The Complete Guide to Foodservice in Cultural Institutions: Your Keys to Success in Restaurants, Catering, and Special Events: Manask, Arthur M., Schechter, Mitchell: 9780471396888: Amazon.com: Books
Editorial Reviews
Review
"...a good presentation and a well-organised approach make this publication the secret to success in running events for cultural institutions." (Hospitality, May 2002)
From the Inside Flap
Create, manage, and grow a successful foodservice operation in any cultural institution
The Complete Guide to Foodservice in Cultural Institutions provides insight, strategies, and information needed to run an appealing, efficient, and profitable foodservice operation that lives up to the commitment, standards, and quality expectations of any cultural institution. It is a unique and invaluable resource for administrators charged with ensuring the quality, profitability, and safety of foodservice operations in any cultural institution.
A series of case studies recounts the problems and shortcomings encountered by a number of cultural institutions' foodservice programs. These studies demonstrate how to achieve improved financial performance, management efficiencies, visitor satisfaction, and integration with each institution's mission and culture. Through presentation of these case studies, this comprehensive guide shows administrators at museums, zoos, and other cultural institutions how to:
- Use catered special events to encourage membership and sponsorship
- Develop and market a private special events program
- Create a restaurant that enhances the visitor experience
- Evaluate and assess in-house restaurants and special events programs
- Renovate or expand an existing foodservice operation
- Ensure food quality and safety
Restaurants, Catering and Facility Rentals - MuseumsEtc
This book will save your organization money. And generate income. Put its principles, insights and recommendations into practice and it will undoubtedly pay for itself... tens or hundreds of times over... Restaurants, Catering and Facility Rentals: Maximizing Earned Income is unique in making available the detailed, highly practical results and recommendations of real-world studies of foodservices and facility rental operations in some of the world's leading museums, galleries and cultural institutions. This range of studies focuses on the scenarios and challenges most frequently encountered as museums and cultural institutions strive to manage efficient and profitable catering services. The studies are supplemented by specially-commissioned, informative and educational essays.
This extensive book (490 pages) covers every aspect of setting up and managing successful foodservice, catering and facility rental operations.
Undertaken by one of the world's leading catering, foodservices and earned income consultancies, Manask & Associates, the studies contained in this book are based on decades of practical experience with a huge variety of institutions, both large and small. Manask & Associates' clients have included some of the world's leading and most successful cultural institutions, including the National Gallery of Art, National Zoo, Monterey Bay Aquarium, The Field Museum, Chicago Botanic Garden, Museum of Science, National Aquarium, Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Science Museum of Minnesota, Saint Louis Art Museum, Newport Mansions and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
With a Forward by Darrell R Willson, Administrator of the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, Restaurants, Catering and Facility Rentals is richly illustrated with examples of innovative and successful foodservice facilities in museums and galleries throughout the world. And while the featured examples are primarily drawn from museums, galleries, historic houses, botanic gardens, aquariums and zoos, the principles contained in the book are equally applicable to performing arts and other cultural organisations.
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Art Manask
Principal
Art Manask Consulting
artmanask@gmail.com818 358-3588
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-06-2021 04:59 PM
From: Karen Daly
Subject: On Site Cafe - Outsourced Catering
Greetings,
We are considering options for bringing back dining offerings to our historic site in a rural area where there is not consistent/varied nearby dining.
If you currently work with a local restaurant/caterer to stock grab-and-go food offerings, or to run a full-service café operation, would you be willing to share your business model/financial arrangement? Specifically, we're considering whether to set up some kind of leasing arrangement or profit-sharing, and other details we need to consider including in any kind of pilot contract/MOU we establish.
Appreciate any examples/advice.
Many thanks in advance,
Karen
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Karen Daly
President
Stratford Hall
Stratford VA
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