How to win work from pub, restaurant and cafe groups
A group with five venues has five kitchens, five cool rooms and five sets of drains, and it needs all of them working by opening time. Here is how hospitality groups buy and how to become the supplier they call.
Who they are
A hospitality group is a business that owns or runs several venues, such as a handful of suburban pubs, a few restaurants under one name or a run of cafes across a city. It might be a family that has bought pubs over twenty years or a newer group with three cafes and a central kitchen. Either way the buying is usually split between two people. The operations manager, or in a larger group a facilities or maintenance manager, picks the regular suppliers and signs the service agreements. The venue manager or head chef at each site calls when something breaks and lives with the result.
That split shapes how you sell. The ops manager wants one supplier who can cover every venue on the same terms and send paperwork that is easy to file. The venue manager wants someone who turns up after close, cleans up after themselves and doesn't leave the kitchen unusable for the morning prep. Win over one venue manager and you have someone vouching for you inside the group, and win the ops manager and you can end up on the list for every site.
This page is about venues that trade every day. Function and wedding venues are booked around events and buy a little differently, so they're covered on the venues page.
What they’ll ask a new supplier for
- Your ABN and business details
- Public liability insurance with a current certificate of currency
- Workers’ compensation cover where you have workers
- Your trade licence, and a refrigerant handling licence for refrigeration and air conditioning work
- For grease traps, proof you are an authorised or licensed waste transporter where the water utility requires it
- A service report or certificate after each clean or treatment
- How you handle keys, alarm codes and after-hours access
- Safe work method statements where the work needs them, such as work at height
What they buy, and what they pass on
Kitchen exhaust and canopy cleaning
Filters, hoods, ducts and fans. Grease builds up inside the ductwork where nobody can see it, so this is scheduled work with a certificate left after each clean.
Grease trap pump-outs
Regular work on a schedule set by the local water utility, and in some areas only an authorised or licensed waste transporter can do it.
After-close cleaning
Nightly or weekly cleans of kitchens, bars, toilets and dining rooms, plus deep cleans before a busy season or after a refit.
Plumbing and electrical
Blocked drains, hot water, lighting, power faults and the fryer that trips the board on a Friday night. Speed matters more than price on these calls.
Refrigeration and cool rooms
Servicing and breakdowns for cool rooms, freezers, bar fridges and ice machines. Anyone working on the equipment needs a refrigerant handling licence.
Pest control and the outside areas
Regular pest treatments, pressure cleaning of courtyards, bin bays and footpaths, and window cleaning for street-front venues.
How they choose who to use
Work around trading hours
Jobs done between close and the morning delivery, or in the quiet gap after lunch, without leaving the kitchen out of action.
Fast callouts
A cool room that fails at 6pm on a Saturday costs the venue stock and sales, and the supplier who answers that call tends to keep the account.
Paperwork that proves the work
A service report, certificate or photos after each visit, so the manager can show what was done and when.
The same standard at every venue
Groups like one supplier who works the same way at every site, with one contact and one way of invoicing.
Respect for the kitchen
Cleaning up after the job, putting equipment back where it was and keeping chemicals well away from food and prep areas.
Getting on their list
Many groups keep an approved supplier list for each trade and expect venue managers to call the listed supplier first. A bigger group may ask you to sign a service agreement that sets response times and rates for every venue. A smaller one runs on a phone list the ops manager keeps in their head, which is why a venue manager's good word carries so much weight. The guide to preferred supplier lists covers what to have ready.
Food safety sits behind a lot of this work. Standard 3.2.2 of the Food Standards Code requires a food business to keep its premises clean and sanitary, and things like grease and food scraps shouldn't be left to build up. Clause 24 of the same standard requires the business to do everything it reasonably can to keep pests out and to get rid of any that get in. So a cleaner's checklist and a pest controller's service report are part of how a venue shows it is meeting the standard, and that is why groups ask for them.
Grease traps run to the water utility's timetable rather than the venue's. Sydney Water sets how often each trap must be pumped out, and the business must use an authorised Wastesafe transporter from its directory. Water Corporation in WA also sets the frequency and says pump-outs must be arranged through a licensed waste contractor. Rules differ between utilities, so check with the one that covers the venue before you quote. For kitchen exhausts, the insurer Vero recommends at a minimum cleaning the filters weekly and the duct system every six months, more often in busy kitchens, with a service agreement and certificate from the contractor.
How to approach them
Find out who runs operations
Group websites often list the venues but not the people behind them. The ops manager is often on LinkedIn, and a venue manager will usually tell you who looks after suppliers if you ask.
Start with one venue
Offer to do one site first, such as a single deep clean or one trap service, so they can see how you work before you’re added for every venue.
Say plainly when you work
Done after close and gone before the morning crew arrives is the sentence a venue manager wants to read, as long as it’s true.
Bring the paperwork with you
Licences, insurance and a sample service report ready to send, so the ops manager can add you to the list without chasing anything.
Make callouts easy
Give one number that is answered at night and on weekends, but only if you can genuinely answer it.
A first email that works
Hi Tom, I run a small commercial cleaning business in Newcastle and we do after-close kitchen and bar cleans for a few pubs and cafes around Hamilton and the city. We start once the last staff leave and we’re gone well before the prep crew arrives, and we leave the venue manager a short checklist with photos each time. If one of your venues ever needs a deep clean, or a second option for nightly cleaning, I’d be glad to quote for a single site first. Would it help if I sent through our insurance and a sample checklist? Thanks, Jess If you’d rather not hear from me, just let me know.
An example only. The business is made up.
Mistakes that cost the work
Turning up to quote during service
Arriving at noon on a Friday to measure up a kitchen tells the manager you don’t understand their business. Ask when the quiet time is and come then.
Leaving the kitchen unusable
Wet floors, chemical smells or equipment out of place at 6am cost the venue its prep time, and the chef will make sure the ops manager hears about it.
Skipping the report
Without a service report or certificate the venue can’t show the work was done, and the next supplier who does leave one looks better than you.
Businesses that work with hospitality groups
Part of Sell to businesses. See every kind of business we write to on Who buys from you.
Questions people ask
Who decides, the ops manager or the venue manager?
Usually the operations manager for regular contracts and the venue manager for one-off callouts. Ask which is which when you first get a reply, and keep both of them in the loop.
Do I need anything special to pump out grease traps?
It depends on the water utility. Sydney Water requires an authorised Wastesafe transporter, and Water Corporation in WA says a licensed waste contractor. Check with the utility that covers the venue.
How often should a kitchen exhaust be cleaned?
It depends on how hard the kitchen works. The insurer Vero recommends filters weekly and ducts every six months as a minimum, more for heavy use. Recommend a schedule based on what you find at the first clean.
Is night work worth the hassle?
For most venues it is the only window that doesn’t cost them trade. If you can staff it reliably, it’s a good reason for a group to choose you over a supplier who only works business hours.
How is this different from function and wedding venues?
Function venues are booked around events and often recommend suppliers to their clients. Groups that trade every day buy services to keep the doors open, so reliability and response times matter most.
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand: cleaning and sanitising
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand: controlling pests
- Sydney Water: Wastesafe transporters
- Water Corporation: grease arrestor maintenance
- Australian Refrigeration Council: refrigerant handling licence
- Vero: cleaning of ducts and flues (RM Insight)
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