How to use this sheet

HORECA, meaning hotels, restaurants and catering, buys through two functions asking different questions. Operations asks whether the item works in service. Procurement asks whether it can be bought, evidenced and repeated for the contract term. A sheet satisfying only one produces either a listing the kitchens will not use or a trial the compliance team blocks. The reasoning behind each field group is in what European HORECA buyers specify in leaf tableware. This is the form itself.

Five rules make it work.

1. Send the identical sheet to every bidder and require answers in the same numbering. Three differently worded emails produce three incomparable replies, which is the same failure the supplier RFI that makes three answers comparable is built to prevent.
2. Every dimension carries a tolerance. A dimension without a tolerance cannot be enforced and cannot be rejected against.
3. “Not held” and “not applicable” are acceptable answers. A blank is not. A blank reads as neutral and is the most informative response in the document.
4. State that the completed sheet is annexed to the purchase order on award. A specification that stays in an email is a discussion. Annexed, it is the document that decides a dispute.
5. Version it. Sheets get edited, forwarded and re-sent, and two parties working from different versions is a common and entirely avoidable dispute.

Section A. The brief

Complete this section yourself before sending. It is what stops each supplier answering about the product they would most like to sell.

1. Buying entity, and every delivery point covered by this specification.
2. Outlet types and service styles covered: plated banqueting, buffet, breakfast, canapé, room service, outdoor, staff canteen.
3. Covers per service, and covers in your peak week.
4. Annual volume by format, in pieces.
5. Destination country, delivery address type and any access constraint.
6. Date first delivery is required.
7. Contract term sought, and the review date.
8. Currency, Incoterm and delivery basis you want quoted against.

Where the estate runs several service styles, split the sheet rather than averaging it.

Section B. Item identity

9. Item name and the supplier’s own reference for it.
10. Every material in the finished article, including any coating, lamination, binder, adhesive or surface treatment. Write “none” where nothing is added.
11. Shape, and number of compartments.
12. Colour description, and the spread you will accept across a delivery.
13. Country of manufacture and the full address of the manufacturing site.

Field 10 decides the compliance answer, the disposal claim and the classification, so a description rather than a list is not an answer.

Section C. Dimensions, each with a tolerance

14. Usable well diameter, or the internal dimension a portion sits on, in millimetres, with tolerance.
15. Overall external dimension, in millimetres, with tolerance.
16. Depth, in millimetres, with tolerance.
17. Compartment dimensions where the item is compartmented, in millimetres.
18. Weight per piece, in grams, as a mean and a range across a production batch.
19. Rim width and profile.

Field 14 is what makes a tender comparable. Two items with the same overall diameter can differ substantially in plating area because rim widths differ, so a comparison run on field 15 alone rewards the widest rim. Ask every bidder for the current specification sheet against a named item reference rather than judging any of them on a website figure.

Section D. Performance, answered as a yes or no with limits

Each of fields 20 to 26 requires a yes or no, and where yes, the time and temperature limit. A yes without a limit has not been tested.

20. Hot food: maximum temperature and hold time.

21. Wet and sauced food: hold time before seepage at the base.

22. Oily and fatty food: temperature and hold time.

23. Freezer: minimum temperature and duration.

24. Microwave: wattage and duration.

25. Oven or regeneration cabinet: temperature and duration.

26. Handling: behaviour under a one handed carry, and rim sag under a loaded flat carry.

27. Your own service condition. State the dish, the holding temperature, the interval between plating and service, and the distance and manner in which it is carried. Then state what you will measure: rim sag, seepage at the base, base temperature at the table, and flexure in one hand. Ask the supplier to accept or decline this condition in writing before samples are sent.

Field 27 is the most useful line in the sheet. Sending the condition in advance lets a supplier decline a test they know the product will fail, which is information you want before a trial. How the material behaves with hot and oily food is in performance with hot and oily food, and the sample protocol is in what to test when the sample carton arrives.

Section E. Appearance, grade and acceptance

28. Grade name offered, with the written grade definition attached.
29. Acceptance criteria, stated as measurable characteristics rather than adjectives.
30. Rejection criteria, stated the same way.
31. Retained reference sample: sealed, dated, batch referenced, and one copy held by each party.
32. Acceptance quality limit and the sampling standard applied at inspection.

Grade is the largest single source of difference between two quotations for what looks like the same product, and what actually differs between areca leaf quality grades is what fields 28 to 30 have to capture.

Section F. Pack, storage and logistics

33. Inner pack count, and the inner pack material.
34. Case count.
35. Case external dimensions in millimetres, with gross and net weight in kilograms.
36. Nesting height of a stack of ten pieces, in millimetres.
37. Cases per pallet, pallet type and dimensions, and loaded pallet height.
38. Case and pallet label content, including batch and production date.
39. Storage conditions required, and the stated shelf life under them.
40. Batch marking method, and how long production records are retained.

Fields 33 to 37 must multiply out against each other, and what a carton and pallet configuration table must contain covers the check. Field 36 decides storage volume, which in a city centre building can exceed the difference between two suppliers’ prices. Field 39 matters more for a natural material than for coated board or plastic, and storage and shelf life for tableware stock sets out the conditions.

Section G. Compliance documents

Request these in the same email as the sample. Collecting them afterwards is what delays a listing by weeks.

41. Declaration of compliance for this article, completed rather than blank.
42. Migration test report, stating the simulant, time and temperature, matched to the service condition at field 27.
43. Management system certificates: number, issuing body, scope, expiry date, and confirmation that each is issued in the name of the site at field 13.
44. Compostability certificate with its certificate number, where a compostability claim will be made.
45. Packaging data: material and weight of every packaging component, per item, in the format your business needs for producer reporting.
46. Social compliance audit report, where your group requires one.
47. Any destination specific conformity document required before the goods ship.

Two warnings. A management system certificate evidences a system, not the contents of a given case, so it does not replace inspection. And field 47 is destination specific: the Gulf route runs through GSO standards for food contact materials, the Australian through FSANZ and food contact articles, the Indian through FSSAI requirements. Field 45 exists because the supplier data behind a producer return cannot be reconstructed later.

Section H. Supply and change control

48. Lead time from order confirmation to goods ready, and from goods ready to delivery, both in calendar days.
49. Minimum order quantity, per format.
50. Change notification. Any change to material, dimension, grade, manufacturing site or pack must be notified in writing before shipment, with a stated notice period, and the buyer may require re-approval.
51. Substitution rules: what may be substituted without approval and what may not.
52. Claims window and the process for a short count, a damaged case or an out of specification delivery.

Field 50 is the field almost no HORECA specification includes, and it prevents the commonest quiet failure in this category: a product that drifts, season by season, until it is no longer the item that passed the trial.

The signature block

Version number and date. Buyer signatory, name and role. Supplier signatory, name and role. Next review date. One sentence stating that on award this completed sheet is annexed to the purchase order and prevails over any supplier catalogue description.

How to read a completed sheet

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

• Palm leaf plates for European hotels and restaurants: what HORECA buyers specify
• What to test when the sample carton arrives
• Quality grades in areca leaf tableware: what actually differs between them
• The declaration of compliance, field by field
• Carton, pallet and pack configuration across the areca range

References