Finding ways to reduce the time, energy, and expense in procurement is beneficial to all involved. Restaurants that streamline those redundant tasks can devote the time to developing your staff and focusing on those issues that build and enhance your brand.

Finally the three best ways to get better pricing and reduce your costs:

1. Pay on delivery, have your invoice amounts deducted directly from your operating account. Many distributors have the technology to debit your account at the time of delivery reflecting credits at the same time. Not only does that reduce time on your end but it reduces costs for the distributor. Additionally, your disbursements can be automatically sent to your accounting software eliminating the need to key punch every invoice.
2. Reduce your deliveries. For distributors, deliveries are expensive and it’s not just the delivery that costs, pulling the product and putting it on the truck adds to the distributors costs which ultimately add to yours. One way to think of it is to think about a restaurant that serves 150 people at one time versus 50 people three times, same revenue more expense.
3. Consolidate your purchases, having too many suppliers doesn’t really save you money. Distributors essentially pay the same for product with the primary differences being freight. Accordingly, distributors in the same market are going to pay the same freight from like manufacturers. The distributors generally know which way the market is headed on commodity items and most of the time lower prices on weekly items are just the normal ups and downs of the market. This is particularly true of high ticket protein items. When you partner with your supplier they can pass along the differentials instead of keeping them as leverage against their competitors.

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