Monaghan County Council is looking for someone to run a proper café inside the Peace Campus in Monaghan Town, and anyone interested has only until Thursday to put in a bid. The five-year tender closes at 4pm on 15 October, according to the council's notice on the eTenders portal and reporting by the Anglo-Celt.
The café is meant to work as a social enterprise as well as an everyday hospitality space for staff, people using the campus services, visitors and anyone coming along to events. At the moment there is no full café on site. Food and drink have mostly come from outside caterers and a small barista bar.
A busy building looking for a kitchen
The Peace Campus is already a busy spot. Tender documents cited by the Anglo-Celt say the building drew 128,068 visitors in 2025 and hosts more than 600 events and programmed activities each year. Attendance regularly tops 400 people a week, with activity in the daytime and into the evening — the kind of footfall that would give a café a steady run of trade if the service is right.
The campus was built with PEACE IV funding managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). It brings cultural, educational, community and public services under one roof, including Monaghan County Museum, which moved in when the building opened.
What the operator will be expected to do
The successful bidder will be asked to serve high-quality food and drink and to line the café up with the campus values of community engagement, sustainability, quality and value for money. Working with the other services and groups based in the building is part of the job description, not an optional extra.
The contract will be awarded on the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) basis, which weighs quality as well as price rather than picking the cheapest bid alone. The council has not published an estimated contract value on the tender summary listings.
Why the deadline matters
The tender was published on 24 September. With the closing time set for 4pm Irish time on Thursday 15 October, operators have only a short window left. Bids have to go in electronically through eTenders; late submissions will not be considered under the usual rules for public contracts.
If a suitable operator is appointed, the Peace Campus would finally get the full food-and-drink service that has been missing since it opened — something visitors to the museum, conference goers and people using community services have had to do without, beyond coffee from the barista bar.
The campus is also hosting a free circular-economy conference this Saturday as part of Climate Action Week; see our preview of that event. For more on cultural life at the site, see our story on the museum's full national accreditation.