Civic House Canteen – Call Out for an Operator
Civic House Canteen Overview
We are looking for a chef, caterer or food business to become the long-term operator of Civic House Canteen.
At the heart of our retrofit of Civic House is a simple ambition: to create a place where food, workspace and cultural activity come together, giving ambitious people the space to meet, collaborate and do their best work.
As our programme continues to grow, we’re looking for a canteen partner to become part of the long-term future of the building.
This is an opportunity to build a thriving food business at the heart of Civic House – a venue, canteen and workspace home to a diverse community working across cultural, social and green enterprise.
Whether you’re looking to launch a new venture or grow an existing one, we’d love to hear from you!
The Opportunity
The opportunity combines three core areas of activity that will underpin the business model of the canteen:
- Daily canteen service for our community of coworkers, local organisations and visitors.
- Event catering for conferences, meetings and cultural events throughout the year.
- Wedding catering centred on generous, convivial, family-style food made for sharing.
Together, these provide the foundation for a sustainable food business shaped around the kind of food culture we want to support at Civic House.
We provide a fully fitted kitchen in a bright and open-plan space. The operating model has been designed around sociable working hours, supported by the wider activity of an active venue and community. Our aim is to create the right conditions for the canteen operator to focus on what matters most: making delicious food, welcoming people and creating a convivial place to eat and connect.
About Civic House
Civic House is a project run by Agile City CIC, a community interest company based in Speirs Locks, North Glasgow. We work across Civic House and the Glue Factory, and are currently developing the outdoor spaces on Civic Street to include a community garden and growing space.
Our campus brings together co-working, events, cultural production and community activity. Food has always been at the heart of how people experience the building – whether sharing lunch, attending a conference or celebrating a wedding.
We believe great food builds community, and we’re looking for a canteen partner who shares our vision and wants to build a destination for food culture in Glasgow.
Previous Canteen Operator
Most recently, Parveen’s ran our canteen, bringing a distinctive energy to Civic House through daily meals, event catering and monthly supper clubs. Parveen’s was featured in Rick Stein’s visit to Glasgow via his BBC series ‘Food Stories’, which you can watch here. Parveen’s are now opening their own restaurant in the Southside.
We’re looking forward to building another close and collaborative partnership.
What We’re Looking For
We’re interested in hearing from people who:
- Care deeply about producing high-quality, delicious food
- Want to build an inclusive, accessible and welcoming food culture
- Are excited by the opportunity to grow a business within a creative community
- Enjoy working collaboratively and are passionate about hospitality
Experience operating a café, restaurant or catering business is welcomed, but we’re equally interested in ambitious chefs or teams with a strong vision and the capacity to deliver.
Interested? Request the Tender Pack
We’ve designed the process to be simple.
- Stage 1: Complete our short online form – this should only take 10 minutes.
- Stage 2: We will then send you the full tender pack within 2-3 days. This will include further information about Civic House, the catering opportunity and what we’d like you to submit as part of the full application.
The deadline for full applications is 5pm, Wednesday 7th October.
If you have any questions, contact hazel@agile-city.com
We look forward to hearing from you.