Currently with 146 members, representing universities and colleges across the UK, TUCO is a professional body for those responsible for the management and provision of in-house catering services within the H.E and F.E sectors.

Moreover, split into eight regional groups, it offers a range of benefits to its members, not least providing exciting opportunities to develop new communications with other members, customers, suppliers and the industry generally.

The objectives for which TUCO is established incorporate:

(a) The promotion of quality standards in the practice of catering and associated services within universities and institutions of higher and further education funded by the Higher and Further Education Funding Councils of the United Kingdom.
(b) The advancement of education and training.
(c) Providing a forum to enable members to learn, inform, communicate and act collectively to mutual benefit of the individual member institutions.

Nationally, TUCO is the lead organisation for catering commodity procurement, and this is organised by the National Purchasing Group (NPG) under the chairmanship of Barry Trahar (University of Bristol). A representative from each region is included in the group, with each one taking responsibility for a specific commodity. In addition the group has a professional purchasing advisor to provide stringent checks of TUCO’s procurement practices in order to ensure that the whole operation in working in the interests of members.

TUCO has nine national framework agreements in place, covering frozen food, ambient products, soft drinks, cider, beer, wines & spirits, dispensing gas, sandwiches, and confectionery. All tenders commence with regional consultation with members and a rigorous assessment of the benefits of a national agreement. This results in what commercial firms would call ‘local knowledge in tandem with national buying power’.

Members’ expenditure through TUCO’s national agreements in 2006/07 was £37.4 million, exactly double what it was in 2004/05 (£18.7 million). Indeed, since the organisation entered the food procurement market four years ago (it has been buying in drinks for over 15 years) it has developed and evolved to become a vital part of ‘big picture’ when it comes to food in higher and further educational establishments.

And with one-third of all universities in the UK now Fairtrade, TUCO follows a path of environmental awareness and sustainability. Only products that cannot be procured locally, for instance, are sourced on a national basis, with issues concerning food miles fuelling this philosophy. TUCO is also involved in some sourcing of Fairtrade products, an area in which it expects significant expansion and fully supports this welcome trend.

TUCO is constantly looking to the future too, underlined in 2006/07 when it established a regional training fund to support training activities within the eight regions. Amongst the various events that were organised, Wales and the West held a series of workshops on a range of subjects, including food allergies, local and organic foods, and retailing trends; the Scottish region arranged a day on retailing, as well as a series of training days with a top vegetarian chef; Cambridge held a training day under the banner of ‘raising the game’ and the North East held a training day for less experienced chefs.

The end result of TUCO’s work can be very impressive; it’s not simply a case of ‘feeding’ people. Loughborough University, for instance, has become the first university in England to win the Food for the Brain award. The award recognises the university’s commitment to serving healthy foods that have been found to have an impact on academic performance. The brain foods include seeds, oily fish and green vegetables and, as well as updating its menu, the university has embarked on a campaign to raises awareness of healthy eating among its students. This has involved using point of sale materials, highlighting ingredients at the counter, small pamphlets detailing the importance of healthy eating are left on tables in the restaurant. There are also plasma screens around the dining room that play relevant slides explaining how the new menu can help students stay on the ball with their study.

To find out more about TUCO, visit the website at www.tuco.org.