Catering at York Castle Museum
York Museums Trust is seeking a suitable catering partner to operate the café at the Castle Museum. This opportunity to provide catering services at one of York’s premier attractions will start in October 2022.
York Castle Museum
York Castle Museum (YCM) is one of York’s big five attractions, home to the iconic Kirkgate – Victorian Street, a collection of costume unrivalled outside of London and galleries covering; Toys, the 1960s and the first world war.
Pre covid, the Museum attracted on average 275,000 visitors per year, and is now building back strongly to this number. Visitors come from a range of market segments including family groups through the school holidays, national and international tourists at all times of the year and now with a revised mission to work with our local audience and communities.
We are looking for a partner who will:
- work with local suppliers and produce
- consider their environmental impact.
- Provide a café experience that responds to and enhances the site, exhibitions and themes within the Museum
Café
The café at the YCM is located on the right hand side of the entrance, has a capacity for 30 covers, indoors with views of the Eye of York and Clifford’s Tower. In this café area is a small but functional area for food service and drink preparation and a separate wash up. It is possible to provide a full range of hot and cold drinks, a range of cold sandwiches and salads and limited hot dishes.
Opportunities
- We would welcome suggestions for the café area to be used outside the opening hours of the Museum, this could be for pop up bistro evenings, wine tastings, private events or other ideas that could be put forward.
- The area between the Museum and the city centre will be undergoing a transformation, through the City of York Council’s Castle Gateway Project. More details can be found here: Castle and Eye of York – City of York Council. The project will create a large area of public realm in place of the current car park and re landscape the area immediately in front of the Museum. This will present an opportunity in that visitors (to the City not just YCM) will be able to dwell comfortably in this area and no doubt seek refreshment and sustenance. There could be opportunities within the YCM footprint for a pop up service or via the City Council for provision of services in the new area.
Find out more about this opportunity through the documents below