Terms of Reference: Call for the provision of consultancy services to undertake research to explore and develop opportunities for commercial eCooking

MECS is pleased to announce the call for the provision of consultancy services to undertake research to explore and develop opportunities for commercial eCooking.

Project Outline/Introduction

MECS is seeking a consultant(s) to undertake research to explore and develop opportunities for Commercial eCooking. The research entails undertaking a scoping study to develop understanding of the main commercial cooking segments in the target country, their energy demands, supply chains and the wider economic and policy landscape, and the factors that might drive or impede eCooking transitions in these commercial cooking segments. The work is intended to be completed in 8 weeks[1]. See below for the definition of ‘commercial organisation’ used for this study, and eligible countries.

Pre-existing knowledge or links to the commercial cooking sector are desirable to help build the relationships with commercial cooking organisations required for this study.  Depending on the success of this this study and the broader development of the MECS programme, there may be scope for a future follow up study focussing more in-depth on the opportunities and challenges for commercial eCooking transitions. Relationships with commercial cooking organisations will be particularly valuable to enable the detailed survey and ethnographic research activities envisioned.  Where studies are successful and MECS programme development allows, organisations will be contacted and invited to apply for a follow up study.

Definitions
Commercial organisations are defined as businesses or profit-making ventures. Organizations which are within scope for this study are those which are the place of food production and service. Examples include, but are not restricted to, restaurants, hotels, banqueting halls, bakeries, street food vendors (of snacks, of staples), roadside eateries.
Institutions, which are taken to mean organisations with a more public serving purpose, such as schools and hospitals, are NOT within the scope of this study.
While commercial food manufacturers and processors have eCooking opportunities, they are NOT within the scope of this study which centres on the distinct circumstances for organisations which are both the place of food production and service. 
 
Countries of interest
The work should be based in one of the following countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Ghana, Indonesia, Laos, Malawi, Mozambique, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia. Consultants can only submit a proposal in one country, multiple-country proposals will be rejected.

[1] The time period is the project duration and there is not an expectation that staff work full time for this period. 

Scope of work:

The research entails undertaking a scoping study to develop understanding of the main commercial cooking segments in the target country, their energy demands and supply chains, the wider economic and policy landscape, and the factors that might drive or impede eCooking transitions in these commercial cooking segments.

Important Information

• The tender exercise is managed by Loughborough University.

• Please send all responses to mecs@lboro.ac.uk with the subject ‘Commercial eCooking’.
• All proposals must be received by Thursday 19^th September 2024, 23:50 BST.

Access the full Terms of Reference below: