Decision details

Tenants at the MBC have repeatedly requested the provision of a café for the business centre.
The atrium facility has been closed and the furniture removed during the pandemic but the hope is to bring this area back to life as soon as possible.
Historically we have tried three times to operate a café facility in the atrium at the centre but all three have left after a period of time stating that the facility is not viable. Previously the centre had offered the adjacent unit free of charge to the café providers as an incentive. This facility would equate to a loss of income of around £7,200 per annum to the centre.
This adjacent unit is now fully let bringing that income into the centre.
The centre is now 10 years old and needs to keep pace with the demands of its customers in order to maintain high levels of occupancy and the COVID pandemic has also made businesses consider whether they actually need a commercial premises. At the time of writing this report there are no vacant units and two empty offices. This includes several new tenancies agreed throughout the lockdown period.
Additional Benefits – The re-provision of this facility would help to bring back the life into the Atrium and extend the offer to our tenants and other users. New furniture and a reinvigorated space fitted out in a modern, welcoming, professional space would also enable Informal and ad hoc meetings for both tenants and staff. The vending offer is a fresh and high quality offer for drinks and snacks (topped up daily by a local business). It is also hoped that the atrium area will be able to host network meetings and showcase events for external businesses and tenants.
The Flexi Desx Proposal (for between 8 and 10 hot desks) also needs to provide a competitive, professional space that brings people to the centre with refreshments available.
This facility will use the centre better as a focal point for ED service delivery across the borough as a meeting place for business and the economic Development service. The new atrium will encourages business support activities and businesses working together, networking events
Show case evenings for business to learn about each other fostering peer to peer support and stimulating the supply chain.
Sample products (sandwiches, wraps, salad, and fruit) were left at the MBC for tenants to see that this is a high quality offer, the coffee would be Starbucks. The offer would be responsive to the will of the tenants/customers and this information has been requested from the survey but is able to adapt throughout the life of the Contract.
CCTV would be installed in the area to ensure payments are made using swipe cards or contactless payments.
Hire charges would only be levied when the cost of sales does not equate to the rental charge.
The scheme is designed (sold as) being cost neutral or even generating income to the Contract holder. The best case scenario is this, however the cost is a weekly rental charge and there are some quiet times (e.g. Christmas) that no income would be generated.
The 24 hour accessibility of the offer may well generate high usage as it gives flexibility to users out of hours and there are several businesses that access the centre at these times.
For the Council to agree the Contract which would “in effect” underwrite any loss for an agreed period. As can be seen by the attached proposal, to cover the cost of the weekly hire charge the centre would need to sell the equivalent value of 59 drinks per day to break even.
The survey (36 responses from a maximum of 46 tenancies representing about 100 people) has indicated that there will be a high number of staff on site from July and that there is a good level of agreement to use this facility.
Survey summary ;
•88% of responding tenants have 1-5 employees compared to only 5% who have 10+
•69% of respondents are either likely or very likely to use the facility.
•Cold drinks (75%), hot drinks (58%) and standard lunch items (65%) are the most popular items
•Breakfasts items (35%) were considered the least likely items for purchase
•45% of respondents currently use local facilities such as Co-op and Aldi for their snacks and meals.
The new flexible space will also be a pilot to establish if there is demand for a service like this that could be reproduced in the town centre and other areas

To award contract for a three year and three month period.

No offer – the tenants have requested this repeatedly and we have tried previously to install a café facility but the usage was not enough for a viable business to pay staff.
Just a drinks machine – this is possible but many businesses work long hours and currently walk to either Aldi or the petrol garage to purchase food and drinks (see survey)
The centre needs to continue to deliver a good offer to all to enable the high occupancy levels to be maintained going forwards.
Officers have visited this type of facility offered by Express Vending in another centre in Tring which does generate profit from the scheme and also looked for comparable offers and there is only an offer of vending machines that do the drinks and snacks such as crisps and chocolate without the offer of sandwiches, wraps, hot food etc. restocked daily. This business is very local to the MBC and have assured a high level of restocking and maintenance.