Date: 05-Aug-2005 16:32
Author: andrew hutto Email
Subject: now I get it
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sorry, i'm out of town on vacation. just looked at this thread and am having a very difficult time believing that this is even being talked about.
i am the one who brought this group to town. no one is being strong armed. this is a business opportunity for distributors national and local as well.
don't know which local distributor that you are friends with, but... we are not looking to penalize anyone, local or not. to look at it from our perspective.. we are willing to make a two year commitment to our chosen suppliers.. these suppliers who are up in arms are not looking at the big picture. they could be gaining business, and stabilizing theirs, with the knowledge that 40 - 50 restaurants will be committed to them for this time frame.
we are asking that our participating rests. buy 70% of their goods through our chosen suppliers. that leaves 30% to source goods elsewhere.
the main thrust of our group is the national suppliers. they make a large portion of their money on indepedents. why should my heavy cream, the exact same product that say avalon uses, that comes on the exact same truck, same day same distributor be $6.00 difference in price per case??
i can't justify that. period.
a lot of what will save the restaurants money will be rebates based on drop sizes, QUICK pay incentives, etc.
we aren't just taking here... we are trying to change the behavior of our group. take fewer deliveries per week, pay a little fasster, etc. we are all guilty of not doing these things well. seems that these incentives to help the supplier haven't been mentioned. there are two sides to every story.
again, i have been in on this from the beginning.
if someone wants all of the facts, they may contact me.
i won't bore you with a million examples of how the independents get abused on pricing. their are too many examples.
what i will ask is why are we being faulted for making an effort to run our businesses marter??
we have stipulated that we look at our local options wherever possible, it would be hypocritical not to. there are many other stipulations that we have put on lroa.
however, our restaurants are committede to this plan, and it would be better to embrace it rather than fight, moan and whine about our decision to work smarter. lastly. you do not have to be a member of the louisville originals to participate in this group. nor, do you have to participate in it if you are a louisville original. a group purchasing program was either the highest, or second highest priority, for every restaurant owner who we talked to when we first started to form the originals.
again, any local distributor may feel free to be in touch with me if they truly feel that they are not being treated fairly!
andrew