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Our purchasing is uncoordinated and too expensive

Four departments, twenty suppliers, and nobody knows what the house actually buys in a month

Typical for: owner-run properties without a purchasing lead · businesses with long-grown supplier relationships · houses with several F&B outlets

Documented by Hospis

Updated: 13 October 2026

How you recognize it

  • There is no list of all suppliers with annual volume
  • The same product is bought by two departments from two suppliers at two prices
  • Suppliers adjust prices without anyone noticing
  • Ordering happens daily in small quantities, delivery surcharges and minimum quantities included
  • Invoices get paid, not checked
  • The supplier is a friend of the house, and that is the only argument

Matching Hospis

Javier Torrente

Javier Torrente

Operations · Concept · Team · Palma de Mallorca
Works with protel · Mews · Mews POS · Smart Host
AdviseImplementOperate

His core focus: operations that hold the house together. Bundling purchasing, clarifying ownership and turning control into routine

Mapped to root cause
Overview & structureTerms & controlOrdering rhythmOwnership
View profilePersonally vetted · independent match
VW

Valentin Walch

MAJOVA · F&B · Wine · Menu Architecture, Lech am Arlberg
Works with protel · Mews · Mews POS · Smart Host
AdviseImplement

His core focus: range and suppliers in F&B. What stays visibly regional, what runs through wholesale and what that means for food cost

Mapped to root cause
Range decisionsRegional sourcingCosting & marginSupplier terms
View profilePersonally vetted · independent match

Matching software

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Which path fits your situation?

01

Diagnosis

390 € fixed price

A vetted Hospi analyses your situation in a structured way, in conversation and with a written result. Every statement clearly labelled: FACT, BENCHMARK, HYPOTHESIS or CONCLUSION. You get a concrete path, not a sales meeting.

  • A legitimate outcome is also: no engagement needed.
  • If an engagement follows, the diagnosis fee is fully credited.
02

Urgent support

Acute situation? Your case is reviewed with priority, with a response within 48 hours.

Cause fields and how to tell them apart

Hotel purchasing usually runs on trust and habit. Both are valuable, and both cost money when nobody reviews them

These fields are complete, and many properties get there on their own. That is what this page is for. The cost simply does not appear on an invoice: internal hours, a few attempts, and a season that keeps running in the meantime.

01

Nobody has the overview

How you spot it

No one role sees total purchasing. Kitchen, bar, housekeeping and maintenance buy independently. What the house spends with which supplier is known only to accounting, and nobody asks them

The way out

Pull last year's purchasing out of accounting once: all suppliers, volumes, departments. That single list shows the ten suppliers where negotiating is worth the effort at all

02

Prices are neither compared nor controlled

How you spot it

Terms were agreed verbally, or never. Price increases arrive together with the delivery. Delivery note, invoice and price list are never reconciled

The way out

Written price lists with fixed terms for the major product groups. Invoice checks against the delivery note as a standing step. Once a year, tender the three biggest positions, even if you stay with the old supplier. In Germany, suppliers with more than 800,000 euros of prior-year turnover must issue e-invoices from 2027, and all suppliers from 2028. That makes matching against delivery note and price list easier, because invoice data arrives in structured form

03

Ordering rhythm without a plan

How you spot it

Orders go out when something runs out. Many small deliveries, surcharges, emergency runs to the retail store. Stock levels aren't tracked

The way out

Fixed order days per product group, minimum and maximum stock levels, one order sheet per supplier. Fewer deliveries, better terms, less spoilage

04

Regional sourcing is treated as a price question

How you spot it

Either you buy regional without looking at the price because it "belongs to the house", or you switch to wholesale and the profile of the house erodes. Neither is a decision

The way out

Use regional products deliberately where guests see and value them, and make them visible there. For everything guests don't notice, price and reliability decide. That is a range decision, not a purchasing question

Frequently asked

Do we need a purchasing group?
It can pay off, but it's step three. First know what you buy, then negotiate, then check whether a group buys better in the relevant product groups
Who is supposed to do this. We have no purchaser
It doesn't take a full-time role, it takes ownership: one person who keeps the supplier list, knows the terms and makes sure invoices get checked. A few hours a week
How big is the lever?
The purchasing list from accounting shows that within a day. Without that list, any number is a guess

Describe your situation

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Problem
Our purchasing is uncoordinated and too expensive

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