How to choose a food procurement partner
Once you understand what food procurement is, the next step is finding the right partner to help you get it right. In-house catering teams can achieve significant benefits with the right support. This blog explores how to choose a food procurement partner and the risks of getting it wrong.
Why consider a food procurement partner
If you’re running or overseeing an in-house catering operation, here’s why food procurement deserves your attention:
- Margin protection & cost control: With food inflation now a constant pressure, procurement is no longer optional – it’s essential to defend your margins.
- Competitive advantage: If your institution competes for reputation (schools, hospitals, care, hospitality), having a food offer that doesn’t compromise quality but reduces cost is a differentiator.
- Operational focus: Freed from chasing multiple suppliers, your catering staff can focus on food quality, innovation, training, and diner experience.
- Risk mitigation: Supplier failure, compliance failures, auditing, shocks in commodity markets – procurement builds resilience.
- Data & insight: You get visibility into every penny spent, enabling smarter budgeting, forecasting, and strategic decision-making.
- Sustainability integration: As ESG expectations rise, having procurement that can embed carbon tracking, provenance, waste, and ethical sourcing becomes essential.
What to look for in a procurement partner
A strong food procurement partner should offer:
- Hands-on expertise in foodservice, not just general procurement knowledge.
- Integrated systems that include digital tools for ordering, stock control, recipe costing, and reporting.
- Consolidated billing capabilities to reduce the administrative burden on finance teams.
- Transparent pricing, with clearly defined fees or uplift structures and no hidden mark-ups.
- Ongoing operational support and foodservice consultancy, including help with compliance and kitchen efficiency.
- Sustainability credentials, with the ability to track carbon, reduce waste, and support local sourcing initiatives.
- A high client retention rate signals a proven track record and lasting value.
Red flags to watch out for
- Opaque or hidden pricing structures, perhaps with unexplained mark-ups, which mask the true cost of services
- A lack of foodservice-specific knowledge
- Limited or outdated digital tools, which will limit visibility and efficiency
- One-size-fits-all service models that do not consider the unique context of your operation
- No provision for sustainability, nutrition, or compliance support to meet today’s broader procurement requirements.
What sets allmanhall apart
With consultancies, aggregators, distributors, and technology firms all offering procurement support – why does allmanhall make the perfect food procurement partner?
allmanhall’s procurement philosophy is built around four pillars: Value, Support, Insight and Control.
Value: we start with a CIPS-compliant benchmark, then drive ongoing cost mitigation
Support: we act as an extension of your in-house team, offering hands-on help and expertise
Insight: detailed reporting, commodity and inflation analysis
Control: through our systems, you always retain visibility and control
Here’s how allmanhall’s approach benefits our clients:
- Owner-operated, specialist focus: We are owner-managed and client-focused.
- Hands-on foodservice experience: Our Client Relationship Managers come from professional catering backgrounds – they understand the realities of a working kitchen.
- Integrated technology and service: Our catering controls platform, The Pass portal, ordering, reporting, sustainability insights
– all delivered as part of our complimentary solution. - Transparent pricing model: Our uplift or margin is baked into the consolidated monthly invoice, but our clients often still pay less overall than they could alone.
- Award-winning support & retention: We maintain a 98% client retention rate, and our first ever client, St Paul’s Girls’ School, is still
with us today! - Embedded consultancy & nutrition: Our expert Nutrition & Dietetics team advise on menus, nutrition, waste, allergen and operational improvements.
- Sustainability first mindset: Sustainable and responsible food procurement sits at the heart of everything we do because we believe in good food that doesn’t cost the Earth.
- Proven track record: Our clients span education, care, healthcare, hospitality, and more, with consistent, measurable success stories.
We regard the allmanhall team as absolute experts … they are a truly essential service… a critical partner.”
– Chris Ingram, ACS International Schools
Conclusion
Choosing the right food procurement partner transforms more than cost – it enhances resilience, quality, and control. allmanhall’s combination of
procurement, systems, and consultancy makes us a trusted partner to in-house caterers across many sectors.
Ready to explore a benchmarking review or initial conversation? Get in touch today. Contact us today to start your benchmarking journey.