Catering Specialist (Procurement) in Bedford

Are you an experienced Procurement Catering Professional with public sector experience looking for your next role? Then we have an exciting role for you working within a growing charity organisation!

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Procurement Catering Specialist to join our expanding team and organisation. We are committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and we are interested in you as an individual. We are looking for a highly organised professional with a positive attitude, dedicated to achieving excellence in public sector procurement.

Crescent Purchasing Consortium (CPC) is a not-for-profit purchasing consortium and we produce compliant purchasing frameworks and provide specialist advice on spending practices and value for money. Our longstanding history and dedication has earned CPC a reputation for excellence, which has allowed us to support public sector organisations with a combined non-pay spend of £441m throughout the 2023/24 financial year alone.

This role forms part of the CPC Consultancy On Demand team which specialises in delivering ad-hoc Catering procurement projects to primarily the education sector working within CPC Consultancy On Demand Team but also the potential to work with clients in the wider public sectors or the private sector as part of Crescent Services. Working within the established CPC Consultancy On Demand team you will be expected to manage multiple procurement projects at any one time tendering a wide array of goods and services via a variety of routes to market. Our role is to ensure compliance against PCR2015 & Procurement Act 2023 whilst delivering a first-class service to our clients.

This role would be best suited to a procurement professional who has existing experience in tendering for outsourced catering services or a catering professional who has some knowledge of procurement.

• Support ad-hoc catering procurement projects for education sector clients and wider public/private sector clients as part of CPC Consultancy On Demand.
• Manage multiple procurement projects simultaneously, tendering a wide array of goods and services via various routes to market.
• Ensure compliance with PCR2015 & Procurement Act 2023 and deliver a first-class service to clients.

We are looking for someone who has procurement experience in catering within the public sector or the education sector and knowledge of public sector Procurement Act 2023.

• Salary of up to £45,000 FTE per annum depending on experience.
• Generous yearly discretionary bonuses following successful probation.
• Remote working with visits to clients onsite when required.
• Access to a local government pension scheme which includes death-in-service and ill health.
• Opportunities to develop through our inhouse development programmes and through external learning with full support given to achieve MCIPS.
• 38 days holiday (including three days additional leave for Christmas holiday closure and bank holidays).
• Time off for volunteering opportunities.
• Enhanced leave packages such as paid sickness, carers leave, bereavement and compassionate leave and maternity pay.
• Support for wellbeing with access to 8 mental health first aiders and the opportunity to join an Employee Assistance Programme.
• The chance to get involved in a number of working groups, such as Equality Diversity and Inclusion, Wellbeing and Sustainability.
• The opportunity to join our Women’s, Men’s and Carer’s employee support networks which provide safe spaces for colleagues to share their experiences.
• Social and employee events throughout summer and at Christmas.
• Has a programme of ‘giving back’ to the communities in which it is based and which it supports.
• Travel expenses paid for any additional required travelling outside of your contracted place of work.

The deadline to apply is Sunday 22nd February 2026. Following successful application, we will invite selected candidates to meet for an interview via Teams with our hiring managers. If you like what you’ve read, please don’t delay in applying as we may close vacancies early where we receive lots of applications.

Please note that VISA sponsorship is not offered for this role. We are a disability confident employer so if you need any adjustments made to support your application, for example, if you require information in different formats or if you have any accessibility issues, we’re more than happy to review our processes. Please feel free to get in touch with us at peopledevelopment@thecpc.ac.uk.

As an equal opportunities employer, Crescent Purchasing Consortium is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership. We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join us.