Request for Proposals: Update of Business Plan for the expansion of YWCA Hamilton’s At the Table Café and Social Enterprise

Bid #: MFS-2020-01
Closing Date: (Closing in 14 days)

You are invited to submit your response to our Request for Proposals (sometimes referred to as “RFP”) to provide consulting services to update the business plan for YWCA Hamilton’s At the Table Café and social enterprise expansion.

Total project budget is $15,000.00 - $20,000.00.

A.BACKGROUND AND PROJECT DESCRIPTION

About the YWCA-Hamilton: YWCA Hamilton strengthens women’s and girls’ voices, broadens their choices, builds dynamic leadership and provides essential and meaningful services that promote safe, inclusive, and equitable communities. We are guided by a vision where women and girls have the rights, resources and opportunities to shape their own lives.

About At the Table Café: The Café is a dynamic food service social enterprise that currently delivers prepared foods through our Café located in YWCA Hamilton’s downtown location, as well as catering services for a variety of internal needs/events and external clients. The Café operates under the management of our experienced Head Chef and offers a variety of healthy, seasonal food options to cater to a diverse population in Hamilton’s downtown core and surrounding areas. Our location, service, competitive prices, high quality offerings, and social impact help drive Café sales and a solid customer base.

YWCA Hamilton has been active on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, responding to the crisis by ensuring those most vulnerable in our community remain safe and healthy during this time. Our social enterprise has played a vital role in our response, providing food for the women, children, and families currently served through our housing programs. As we continue to pivot in response to the pandemic, we are actively working with our funders and partners at all levels to meet changing needs, develop new program models, and find innovative solutions to support our community in the most timely and effective ways possible.

Key Project Priorities

• Building capacity to accept future investments that will allow the Café to grow in asustainable, profitable way.
• Increase revenue from the Café to grow the capacity of the social enterprise to supportthe work of YWCA Hamilton to change the lives of women and girls in our community, specifically, the women dealing with the impacts of poverty, homelessness, and trauma who we serve.
• Expand our current business model to include new retail opportunities and partnerships.

B. SCOPE OF WORK

Building off of the existing business plan, creating a detailed business plan for the proposed Café expansion, including market assessment, marketing plan, risk assessment, operations planning, and financial projections, with environmentally sustainable practices integrated into the business model.

The plan will serve to:

1. Identify services/products, pricing and target markets resulting in a marketing strategy which will provide realistic projections of sales expectations with associated costs. Outputs of the marketing plan will include:
   1. Assessment of market opportunities in the catering industry and related services/products. Market assessment will include a complete SWOT analysis (opportunities, competitive threats, strengths and weaknesses)
   2. A detailed analysis of local and regional competition in the chosen markets with a realistic estimate of the total market and potential market share for this business
   3. Preliminary revenue and expense projections for identified opportunities
   4. A three-year marketing strategy including yearly sales projections and direct costs
   5. Specific marketing options and promotional strategies with associated costs and time frames, cost effectiveness assessment of advertising alternatives
   6. Recommendations on the most appropriate forms of promotion
2. Provide an Implementation Plan which will assist the social enterprise with the operationalization of the marketing and business plan to give the greatest chance for success and achieving projected sales. Outputs of the implementation plan:
   1. A monthly critical path that addresses the needs in marketing, sales, product development, human resources, training, equipment and capital requirements
   2. An annual “to do” listing for years two and three including requirements in marketing, sales, product development, human resources, training, equipment and capital requirements

C. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Bidders submitting proposals should detail their experience, qualifications, specialized abilities, resumes of key personnel, recent projects undertaken of a similar nature and their proposed fees for carrying out the defined scope of development consultant work in addition to the following information:

1. The consultant (person) with overall responsibility for the project.
2. Similar Projects
   1. Please provide a summary of at least 3 “similar projects” that you deem are comparable.
3. Other Mandatory Requirements
   1. Provide three (3) references of projects executed within the past five (5) years for similar projects.
4. Provide a current list of client references, including name of organization, contact person, title and phone number. A minimum of three references is recommended.
5. A fee Schedule

D. ANTICIPATED TIMELINES

E. PROJECT BUDGET AND PRICING

1. he total budget for this project, inclusive of all applicable fees, is in the range of between $15,000.00 - $20,000.00 CDN plus taxes.
2. all proposals must provide a detailed pricing breakdown for the proposed services, showing the total cost for the performance of all services, expenses, materials and deliverables including optional components, to be used for completion of the work.

F. SELECTION CRITERIA

It is our intention to evaluate submissions in accordance with the selection criteria outlined below.

G. TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE SUBMISSION PROCESS

Instructions to Bidders

Proposals must be received via email by Friday, October 16, 2020 by 5:00:00 pm EST. It is the Bidder’s responsibility ensure that delivery of its proposal has occurred.

Proposals must be clearly marked RFP #MFS-2020-01 for Update of Business Plan for the expansion of YWCA Hamilton’s At the Table Café, and contact information, including address, telephone, email and website (if applicable) should be included.

Address Submissions To:

Andrea Davies, Project Manager, Administration, YWCA Hamilton and send to adavies at ywcahamilton.org.

Proposals received after the above closing time and date will not be considered. Proposals must be submitted by e-mail and will not be accepted via fax or in-person.

• Bidders should structure their Submissions in accordance with the instructions in theSubmission Request.
• All Submissions shall be in English only.
• YWCA Hamilton and its advisers make no representation, warranty or guarantee as to theaccuracy of the information contained in the Submission Request or issued by way ofaddenda. Any quantities shown or data contained in the Submission Request or provided byway of addenda are estimates only and are for the sole purpose of indicating to Proponentsthe general size of the work.
• It is the Bidder’s sole responsibility to avail itself of all necessary information to prepare aSubmission in response to the Submission Request.
• Each Bidder shall bear all costs associated with or incurred in the preparation andpresentation of its Submission.

No Guarantee of Work

YWCA intends to award a contract to the Bidder(s) whose proposal offers the best value to the organization. However, YWCA Hamilton is under no obligation to award any contract in whole or in part, and reserves the right to cancel this Request for Proposal process at any time before or after closing, without providing reasons for such cancellation.

Bidders accept and agree that the relationship between any selected Bidder and YWCA shall be one of Owner and Independent Contractor, and that no employer-employee relationship shall exist between the parties.

Communication after Issuance of Submission Request

• Proponents shall promptly examine all of the documents comprising the Submission Request,and shall report any errors, omissions or ambiguities. Proponents may direct questions to orseek additional information from the YWCA Hamilton Contact, which questions or request forinformation must be in writing, by email, on or before the Proponent’s Deadline for WrittenQuestions. All questions submitted by Proponents shall be deemed to be received once theemail has entered into the YWCA Hamilton Contact’s email inbox. No such communicationsare to be directed to anyone other than the YWCA Hamilton Contact. YWCA Hamilton is underno obligation to provide additional information. No oral explanation or interpretation will beprovided.
• It is the responsibility of the Proponent to seek clarification from the YWCA Hamilton Contacton any matter it considers to be unclear. YWCA Hamilton shall not be responsible for anymisunderstanding on the part of the Proponent concerning the Submission Request or itsprocess.
• YWCA Hamilton will not respond to any verbal inquiries.
• The Submission Request may be amended only by an addendum in accordance with thissection. If YWCA Hamilton, for any reason, determines that it is necessary to provideadditional information relating to the Submission Request, such information will becommunicated to all Proponents by addenda. Each addendum forms an integral part of theSubmission Request.
• Such addenda may contain important information, including significant changes to theSubmission Request.
• Proponents are responsible for obtaining all addenda issued by YWCA Hamilton.
• Proponents should confirm their receipt of all addenda by setting out the number of eachaddendum in the introduction to the submission.

Award and Execution of Agreement

•  Notice of award by YWCA Hamilton to the Successful Proponent shall be in writing. This provision is solely for the benefit of YWCA Hamilton and may be waived by YWCA Hamilton at its sole discretion.
• Selection and award may be subject to the approval of the Board of Directors for YWCA Hamilton and budgetary restrictions.
• In addition to all of YWCA Hamilton’s other remedies, if a Successful Proponent fails to execute the Contract or satisfy any other applicable conditions within ten (10) days of notice of award, YWCA Hamilton may, in its sole and absolute discretion and without incurring any liability, rescind the selection of that Proponent and proceed with the selection of another Proponent, and to cash or call on the Submission Deposit, if applicable.