The success of this partnership underscores how Una's comprehensive savings solutions can elevate procurement strategies — even for organizations that are already procurement experts themselves.
How Businesses Can Save Money on Food Procurement Costs
A play-by-play for navigating rising food procurement costs and what strategies businesses can implement to save money, promote operational efficiency and protect product quality.
- 15-20% average savings for Una members on food costs
- 300+ pre-negotiated supplier agreements
- $0 costs to join - membership is always free
FREE DOWNLOAD
Inside You'll Find...
The complete 18-page playbook used by procurement teams across the US to reduce food spend.
Why food costs keep rising — and how to fight back
Menu optimization & menu engineering tips
Inventory & supplier management strategies
Supply chain optimization tactics
How a foodservice GPO delivers 15–20% savings
Real case study: YPurchasing + Una
THE CHALLENGE
Why Do Food Procurement Costs Keep Rising?
Here is a look at the specific pressures currently driving up your invoices — from geopolitical choke points to structural market concentration that limits your negotiating power.
Inflationary Pressure
Prices for the restaurant and foodservice sector rose 4.1% over the last year — significantly faster than the historical average of 3.5%. (USDA Food Price Outlook).
Disruption & Price Volatility
Take the Strait of Hormuz, for example. 30% of global fertilizer trade flows through this single maritime chokepoint. Instability here can push fertilizer prices from $800 to $2,000 per tonne directly raising what farmers charge at your loading dock.
Supplier Reliability
Late deliveries and supply disruptions force last-minute spot purchases — often at 20–30% above your standard contracted rates.
Limited Supplier Options
Pre-established supplier agreements compress the entire sourcing process. Move from identifying an opportunity to capturing savings in a fraction of the time.
Quality Consistency
Maintaining consistent standards across suppliers — especially with agricultural fluctuations — is an ongoing operational challenge that directly affects customer satisfaction.
Inefficient Inventory Management
Surplus food from the US foodservice sector was recently valued at $157 billion — roughly 14% of total foodservice sales. That waste comes straight off your margin. (ReFED, 2025).
Seasonal Availability
Seasonal dependence means limited availability windows, off-season price spikes, and forced menu adjustments that disrupt both operations and customer expectations.
Transportation & Logistics
Transportation prices recently recorded some of the highest increases since 2022, alongside rising warehouse utilization costs — even when the food itself holds steady in price.
BEYOND THE BASICS
Optimizing the Food Procurement Process
You likely know the standard procurement cycle but in food, the stakes are higher. When dealing with perishables and volatile global markets, your process needs to be as sharp as a chef's knife. Here's how to upgrade each stage for maximum impact.
01
Define the Business Need: Use Total Cost of Ownership
While a chef handles menu planning, procurement adds real value by stepping in early to analyze the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for every ingredient including prep labor and yield loss. This steers the menu toward items that are both delicious and operationally efficient, not just the cheapest on the invoice.
02
Supplier Evaluation: Prioritize Fill Rate Over Base Price
In a volatile market, a supplier's fill rate is often more important than their catalog price. Look beyond unit cost to evaluate financial health and supply chain transparency. Knowing exactly where your meat or produce originates allows you to anticipate disruptions before they hit your loading dock.
03
Negotiation: Build "Favored Customer" Status
Securing a competitive price is necessary, but strategic procurement builds favored customer status. Understand your supplier's pain points — if they need consistent volume on certain days, you may be able to trade scheduling flexibility for better pricing. These deep relationships help maintain supply when shortages occur elsewhere in the market.
04
Delivery & the Cold Chain
Every time a truck door opens, you're managing a cold chain that directly impacts shelf life and food safety. Strict temperature monitoring protocols at the point of delivery prevent paying for product that will spoil two days early — a hidden but significant cost leak in food procurement.
05
Assessment: Never "Set and Forget"
The best procurement teams use this stage to look for product substitutions that offer better value without losing quality. This continuous loop of assessment and improvement is what keeps margins healthy even when markets trend upward. With a GPO like Una, you gain immediate access to pre-vetted alternatives and deep discounts that make substitutions easier to act on.
THE PLAYBOOK
5 Strategies to Save Money on Food Procurement Costs
With inflationary pressure and constant disruption driving food costs up, here are the proven tactics that work, from operational improvements to leveraging group purchasing power.
01
Menu Engineering
Menu engineering treats your menu as a financial portfolio, not a simple list of food. By analyzing the relationship between each dish's popularity and its contribution margin, every item can be categorized into one of four groups, each with a distinct procurement strategy.
⭐️ STARS
High Popularity • High Profit
Your brand-defining items. Protect their supply chain as a top priority. A price hike here has the most significant margin impact.
🐴 PLOWHORSES
High Popularity • Low Profit
Customers love them but they're costly to produce. Find better-yielding cuts or source affordable alternatives through GPO contracts.
🧩 PUZZLES
Low Popularity • High Profit
Profitable but hard to sell. Better menu placement, descriptive language, or server training can turn a Puzzle into a Star.
🐕 DOGS
Low Popularity • Low Profit
Reduce food waste through smart portioning and ingredient repurposing
Embrace seasonal menus — seasonal ingredients are more abundant and cost-effective
Explore cost-effective ingredient substitutions and communicate the value to customers
Push back on "premium only" ingredient demands — procurement's job is to find the best value
02
Inventory Management
Inventory management is a financial compass for your operation. It prevents capital from being tied up in excess stock while ensuring popular items never run out unexpectedly. Inventory data reveals consumption patterns, seasonal fluctuations, and fast-moving items — all goldmines for reducing cost.
Establish clear systems for tracking expiration dates and rotating stock (FIFO)
Analyze consumption data to identify fast-moving items and seasonal trends
Use inventory insights to time bulk purchases and negotiate better rates
Optimize order quantities to minimize both overstock and stockout scenarios
03
Supplier Management
Strategic supplier relationships are the backbone of a resilient food procurement strategy. Moving suppliers from transactional partners to long-term culinary alliances — through trust, communication, and consistent business — opens the door to better terms, priority treatment, and collaborative problem-solving.
Establish KPIs with suppliers to monitor quality and delivery consistency
Negotiate payment flexibility — longer payback periods or early payment discounts
Plan bulk purchases when prices are seasonally low
Conduct regular food tastings and quality reviews to maintain standards
04
Supply Chain Optimization
Supply chain management is the strategic coordination of every link in food procurement from paddock to plate. Get it right and you achieve improved inventory control, timelier deliveries, reduced operational costs, and enhanced business resilience. Get it wrong and you're dealing with expensive last-minute spot purchases and a chaotic kitchen eating away at your profits.
Synchronize delivery schedules with operational demand to minimize holding costs
Consolidate shipments to leverage economies of scale and negotiate better carrier rates
Reduce transportation costs by bundling orders across product categories
Build redundancy into your supply base to guard against single-supplier disruptions
The honest ceiling: Bundling purchases and finding internal efficiencies will only take you so far. To access real savings at scale, you need the purchasing power of a GPO which is exactly what the next strategy covers.
05
Group Purchasing
The most powerful lever available to most businesses and the one most frequently underutilized. A foodservice GPO like Una aggregates the purchasing volume of hundreds of member organizations to negotiate pricing that no single company could achieve alone. It's the secret weapon that levels the playing field with large national chains.
Access 300+ pre-negotiated agreements with the nation's top food distributors
Achieve 15–20% average savings on food procurement costs from day one
Unlock rebate incentives, price protection guarantees, and quarterly reporting
Eliminate the administrative burden of RFX processes and contract negotiations
Join for free — no membership fees, no long-term commitments
GROUP PURCHASING ORGANIZATION
The Benefits of a Foodservice GPO
Una focuses on leveraging the combined purchasing needs of member businesses to secure deep discounts from the nation's leading food distributors. Any private sector business with spend in this category can access unprecedented contract value completely free of charge.
Immediate Cost Savings
No off-limits products. Save on everything in the food distributor's catalog and see savings directly on your invoice from day one.
Speed to Savings
Una treats members like national accounts in the eyes of suppliers connecting them to savings right away without months of negotiation.
Protect Against Supply Chain Shocks
In the wake of ongoing supply shortages and geopolitical volatility, Una provides cost avoidance solutions that standardize purchasing and maintain business continuity, even when the market isn't cooperating.
Real Data Analysis
Cost savings analyses based on real contract terms. Quarterly reports benchmark your pricing and identify additional savings based on actual purchasing data.
Dedicated Support
When you call, you talk to an actual person who understands how your business operates. Real support, real solutions — not automated responses.
Flexible Partnership
Partner in any capacity that works for you with no minimums or lock-ins. Una builds trust transparently and adapts to your procurement model.
15-20%
Average savings on food procurement costs for Una members
300+
Pre-negotiated agreements with top food distributors
Free
Membership and program — no fees, no commitments
REAL RESULTS
Case Study: YPurchasing + Una
10-15% BOOST IN SAVINGS
YPurchasing's Partnership With Una
Even a GPO can benefit from partnering with a GPO. YPurchasing is a dedicated group purchasing organization serving over 240 active YMCAs across the United States. With a commitment to providing best-in-class pricing and services, they turned to Una to strengthen their food category.
Una conducted market basket analyses to visualize potential savings, added diversified and affordable food contracts to YPurchasing's portfolio, and delivered a seamless process from discovery call through supplier connection — reflecting Una's commitment to transparency and speed to savings.
10-15%
Savings boost secured for YMCA members across the US
240+
Active YMCA member organizations benefitting from Una food contracts
Fast
Time to savings — from discovery call to contract connection with minimal friction
TECHNOLOGY
Using Technology to Reduce Food Procurement Costs
Alongside GPO partnerships, technology is one of the most effective ways to remove guesswork and streamline food operations. AI-powered tools are redefining what's possible.
Predictive Analytics
AI-powered demand forecasting helps procurement teams anticipate ingredient needs before they arise, reducing emergency purchases at premium prices.
Inventory Management Systems
Purpose-built inventory tools for food procurement track expiry dates, automate reordering, and flag waste before it becomes a cost.
Waste Reduction Tools
Systems that monitor consumption patterns and flag over-ordering allow teams to cut waste creating a direct path to a better bottom line.
LLMs for Communication
Large language models are increasingly used to save time on supplier communications, RFP drafting, contract summarization, and internal reporting reducing admin overhead in procurement.
Operational Streamlining
Automated purchase orders, digital supplier portals, and centralized contract management reduce administrative burden significantly.
COMMON CONCERNS
Frequently Asked Questions
Una GPO members save an average of 15–20% on food procurement costs. Additional perks include rebate incentives, price protection guarantees, and quarterly savings reporting tailored to your region and purchasing patterns.
A foodservice group purchasing organization (GPO) leverages the combined purchasing volume of many member businesses to negotiate pricing that no single company could achieve independently. Una has over 300 pre-negotiated agreements with top national food distributors. Membership is always free with no long-term commitments.
Any private-sector business with food procurement spend can join Una. Members include restaurants, hospitality operators, healthcare facilities, educational institutions, camps, behavioral health organizations, and more.
Menu engineering treats a menu as a financial portfolio by categorizing every dish into one of four quadrants based on popularity and profit margin:
Stars (high popularity, high profit) — protect their supply chain
Plowhorses (high popularity, low profit) — find cheaper ingredient alternatives through GPO contracts
Puzzles (low popularity, high profit) — improve placement and promotion
Dogs (low popularity, low profit) — remove to eliminate waste. Additional tactics include reducing food waste, embracing seasonal ingredients, and training staff to recommend high-margin items.
Stars (high popularity, high profit) — protect their supply chain
Plowhorses (high popularity, low profit) — find cheaper ingredient alternatives through GPO contracts
Puzzles (low popularity, high profit) — improve placement and promotion
Dogs (low popularity, low profit) — remove to eliminate waste. Additional tactics include reducing food waste, embracing seasonal ingredients, and training staff to recommend high-margin items.
Food costs are rising due to a combination of structural and geopolitical forces:
- Foodservice prices rose 4.1% last year vs. a 3.5% historical average (USDA).
- The Strait of Hormuz — through which 30% of global fertilizer trade flows — poses an ongoing threat that can push
fertilizer prices from $800 to $2,000 per tonne.
- In the US beef sector, just four companies control 85% of all slaughtering capacity, limiting competitive pricing.
- Last-minute spot purchases from supply disruptions can cost 20–30% above contracted rates.
- The US foodservice sector generates $157 billion in surplus food waste annually.
Managing these pressures with GPO contracts, better inventory management, and strategic supplier relationships is the most effective path to protecting your margins.
- Foodservice prices rose 4.1% last year vs. a 3.5% historical average (USDA).
- The Strait of Hormuz — through which 30% of global fertilizer trade flows — poses an ongoing threat that can push
fertilizer prices from $800 to $2,000 per tonne.
- In the US beef sector, just four companies control 85% of all slaughtering capacity, limiting competitive pricing.
- Last-minute spot purchases from supply disruptions can cost 20–30% above contracted rates.
- The US foodservice sector generates $157 billion in surplus food waste annually.
Managing these pressures with GPO contracts, better inventory management, and strategic supplier relationships is the most effective path to protecting your margins.
Una treats its members like national accounts in the eyes of suppliers, which means savings can start from the moment contracts are activated — often within days or weeks of an initial discovery call and cost savings analysis.
FREE PLAYBOOK
Ready to Cut Your Food
Procurement Costs?
Download the complete playbook with 18 pages of proven strategies your procurement team can act on today. Visit una.com/food to learn how Una's foodservice GPO can deliver savings for you.