Less environmental impact and money saved - two good things when Compass Group's 220 restaurants switched to centralized procurement.
The right suppliers and the right contracts
This is where the idea of coordinated goods purchasing for direct purchases came into play. By creating a centralized purchasing portal for all restaurants, the purchasing department at Compass Group would be able to ensure that the restaurants were buying from the right suppliers and according to the right contracts.
For this, an IT solution was needed and Compass Group made an evaluation of the solutions that could be relevant, in the end they settled on Proceedo.
- "What we liked was that it was user-friendly and flexible enough to work well in all our restaurants," says Harald Rydén.
Today, the procurement department negotiates centrally with suppliers and selects the best suppliers and goods. The assortment is then entered into Proceedo. When new price files from suppliers arrive to the purchasing department, they are entered directly into the portal. This way, restaurants automatically have access to the latest contracts and prices.
Restaurant staff can simply open up Proceedo, order the products and volumes they need, and receive an order confirmation and a delivery date.
Clear benefits
Less environmental impact and money saved
Managing procurement centrally instead of letting each restaurant manage its own purchases has brought several benefits. One benefit is that the system has reduced the company's environmental impact, which is a clear advantage as all Compass Group restaurants are environmentally certified to ISO 14001.
- The restaurants now buy from fewer suppliers and this has the great advantage of significantly reducing the number of transports to the restaurants. This is good for the environment thanks to reduced emissions, and it is also good for our economy as we reduce transportation costs," says Harald Rydén.
Compass Group also charges the restaurants a delivery fee for each delivery, regardless of the size of the delivery, which allows the restaurants to plan their deliveries better and avoid unnecessary small purchases.
Another advantage of centralized procurement is that it allows for larger volumes and better control.
- We can now guarantee our suppliers larger purchases than we could before and this allows us to negotiate better prices. In addition, we get better control of what is purchased when everything goes through the portal, says Harald Rydén.
Perseverance paid off
Out in the restaurants, the staff are happy with the system, which simplifies their purchasing and gives them more time to devote to their core business of serving really good food. But it wasn't all sunshine and roses from the start, and Harald Rydén says it's important to be persistent when launching a project like this.
- At the restaurants, staff initially found it difficult to have to go through the portal and not be able to call the supplier directly to place their orders as they were used to. But this was an IT maturity issue and it takes some time to get used to a new way of working. After a while, it went very well when they saw the benefits of having a system that allowed them to buy the right products quickly and easily," he says.
There are also some aspects that can be good to consider for companies that want to start with coordinated purchasing, says Harald Rydén.
- "Do a thorough analysis of what you want to do and make sure the supplier understands your business and what you want to get out of the solution. It's important to have a contact person at the system supplier who really understands your business for it to be good," he says.
For most people, there is a lot to gain from coordinated purchasing, and Harald Rydén is very pleased with the solution chosen by Compass Group.
- "We wanted a solution that helped us implement our purchasing process in all restaurants and it has worked really well. So we are very happy with Proceedo, says Harald Rydén.