Muffins, scones, tea: Bay of Plenty leaders gobble almost $118k in a year

Some Bay of Plenty councils and health boards have spent almost $118,000 on catering in a year.

The spend covers the 2020/2021 financial year and includes Rotorua Lakes Council, Tauranga City Council, Western Bay of Plenty District Council, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and the Lakes and Bay of Plenty District Health Boards.

The biggest spender was the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, which spent almost $40,000 on catering for elected members and staff, while the smallest was Tauranga City Council, which spent about $4660.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council spent $39,044 on catering in the 2020 / 2021 financial year, with the largest spend - more than $15,000 - on council workshops.

Catering for full council meetings, committees, workshops and forums came to more than $38,000, with a further $321 on an elected members' training session.

The council hired Kex Kitchen, Lemongrass Catering and Blomquists for its catering, with the largest spend - almost $20,000 - with Mount Maunganui-based Kex Kitchen. All companies were locally owned and operated.

Morning teas and lunches included muffins, savouries, sweet slices and club sandwiches, protein and salad or soups and buns in winter. Cheese and crackers, fruit and biscuits, along with tea and coffee were also served.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council people and customer services group manager Jan Pedersen said there had been a "large number of meetings" over the period, which included offsite forum meetings and a large number of workshops, as well as council and committee meetings.

"Because our elected members need to travel from different ends of the district our approach is to host several meetings on one day, in order for the elected members to minimise travel time."

She said when that happened the council provided morning tea and lunch.

"In the last year we had a high number of workshops while we worked through our Long Term and Annual Plan processes."

Bay of Plenty Regional Council facilities and information team leader Rebecca Immink said it had spent more than $38,500 on catering for elected member meetings and leadership team meetings in the 2020/21 financial year.

That included more than $520 for leadership team meetings. The rest was on council and committee meetings.

She said preferred suppliers were Peppercorn Catering in Tauranga, White Island Café in Whakatāne and Genuine Catering in Rotorua.

The figures also included other local suppliers where the preferred supplier was unable to fulfil a request or catering was provided by a venue, she said.

"In some cases, the cost of venue hire has also been included in a single transaction."

The regional council spent $35,000 on meeting catering in 2018/2019 and $22,500 in 2019/2020.

Rotorua Lakes Council district leadership and democracy deputy chief executive Oonagh Hopkins said the council spent a total of $19,939 for the year on catering.

All costs were for elected member meetings, and no executive team meetings were catered, she said.

The cost was made up of $4740 for full council meetings, more than $9000 for committee meetings, more than $1450 for lakes and rural community board meetings, and about $4700 for confidential forums.

She said no record was kept of the specific items provided and all catering was provided by council contractor Eurest.

Rotorua Lakes Council spent $90,500 on meeting catering in 2018/2019 and more than $64,000 in 2019/2020.

Tauranga City Council democracy services manager Coral Hair provided information that showed the council spent a total of $4661 on council, commissioner and executive team meetings. There were 11 elected members before four commissioners were put in place in February 2021.

"We are unable to accurately breakdown the total cost of catering for each meeting type, in particular, because some transactions cover more than one meeting type."

She said the meetings also included committee meetings, hearings and workshops.

A variety of suppliers were used, including Tauranga-based Hereford Kitchen, Ground Zero, Mount Maunganui RSA, Dry Dock Café, and Oscar and Otto, Whakatāne-based Moxi Café and Raglan-based Cater Plus Services.

Just under $800 was spent on drinks after a workshop at Mood for the executive and senior leadership group and almost $1000 was spent at chain stores the Aussie Butcher and Pak'nSave.

Hair said catered food usually included scones, muffins, sweet slices, sausage rolls, mini quiches, sandwiches, cheese and crackers and salads and fruit.

Lakes District Health Board chief executive Nick Saville-Wood said it spent almost $10,688 on catering over the financial year, of which $10,539 was for Lakes DHB board and advisory committees.

The remainder was spent on Te Manawa Taki Chairs and chief executive meetings.

Its only catering contractor, Spotless, provided scones, muffins, savouries, sandwiches and fruit.

Lakes District Health Board spent $3500 on meeting catering in 2018/2019 and $5000 in 2019/2020.

Bay of Plenty District Health Board governance and quality senior advisor Debbie Brown said it spent more than $4840 on catering for elected members and senior leadership over the financial year.

All but about $115 of that was for board meetings, she said.

Catering was made up of sandwiches, small quiches and muffins, "mixed puff parcels" and mini sliders, as well as fruit platters and yoghurt.

The DHB used the hospital kitchen nine out of the 11 occasions and Tauranga-based Pukeko Caterers once. On the remaining occasion - a workshop for senior leadership - catering was purchased with petty cash.

By the numbers: Bay of Plenty public spend on catering 2020/2021.

All figures are inclusive of GST:

• Western Bay of Plenty District Council: $39,044.47
• Bay of Plenty Regional Council: $38,521.96
• Rotorua Lakes Council: $19,935
• Lakes District Health Board: $10,688.50
• Bay of Plenty District Health Board: $4846.92
• Tauranga City Council: $4661.69

Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air