CoreTrust’s Food Solution emerged from our long-standing expertise in operating and managing the entire bandwidth of the food procurement supply chain in the healthcare space. By combining this purchasing power with that of restaurants and corporate cafeterias, we have grown our CoreTrust program to provide competitive pricing on items for the restaurant, hospitality and foodservice sectors.
Today, we are taking the program even further – a new strategic GPO relationship with Foodbuy, a more hands-on consultative approach lead by seasoned food and beverage experts.
“Our unique position and ability to partner with both our internal GPO (HealthTrust) and our new external GPO partner Foodbuy will give our Members access to two of the largest GPO’s in the country with more than $60B in combined managed spend. As we understand our Members’ KPIs, pain points and purchasing needs, we can customize a solution pulling the best contracts from both GPOs. In addition, our ability to aggregate spend across our nearly 100 Restaurant and Foodservice Members creates a holistic approach not offered by our competitors.” said Dan Richardson, Director of Food Solutions.
Food and Beverage Experts
“When CoreTrust hired Dan Richardson late last year to be Director of our Food Solutions division, we weren’t just bringing on a seasoned manager,” said Jason Hanson, Vice President, CoreTrust Solutions. “Dan is a food industry expert coming out of the restaurant, hotel and food GPO space. He understands our members’ pain points.”
Richardson recently recruited Adam Young, whose procurement experience in the Food and Beverage industry made him the perfect fit for CoreTrust. Given both of their extensive times served in the F&B trenches, Richardson and Young can relate to members on the ground – including emerging restaurant chains that need help getting their operational and procurement programs established.
“Our go-to-market approach is that we get to know our members very intimately,” said Richardson. “We spend time in their facilities, walking around. We roll up our sleeves asking them important questions about what drives their business and key pain points; questions like, ‘Why do you buy this?’ and ‘What drives your purchasing, price, quality, and availability?’ Then, we’re able to better recommend the solutions available to us.”
A new GPO relationship with Foodbuy has greatly expanded product availability. “Our members have access to several thousand Foodbuy contracts, providing competitive pricing and rebates along with a broader and better array of products,” said Young. “We serve as the conduit between Foodbuy and the member. Most aggregators are just selling and passing on. Our advantage is that we have expertise as operators and purchasing managers who can get the most from these products and contracts.”
A Hands-on, Consultative Approach
When a member comes on board, the Food Solutions team sets out to learn their business, following the Acronym AREE: Analyze, Recommend, Engage & Execute. “The idea is to understand what’s driving the need, determine the best solutions, and identify whether the engagement be of benefit to the member,” said Richardson. “The sooner we can roll our sleeves up, the quicker we can offer solutions to positively impact the business. We understand their procurement process from soup to nuts.”
If the team’s analysis identifies that there are items unique to the member but not part of the CoreTrust program or Foodbuy GPO, they work with the manufacturing community to source these items and potentially bring them under contract – helping to reduce costs and provide additional benefits. They are also able to source proprietary products such as white-labeled sauces or salad dressings.
“We will offer some aggregated events, but that does not preclude those members who might have a significant spend in one area – say around chocolate or oils,” said Richardson. “Basically, we’re able to source a contract that is custom to them via different avenues; whether that be an existing contract or an amended contract. Or, we can go out and custom source a product, based on the member’s need.”
Existing CoreTrust food solutions members have the opportunity to participate in an advisory council, or Food Board. The group will be brought together twice a year to discuss new manufacturing ideas, trends and sourcing events; be introduced to new manufacturers and cutting-edge products; and be presented with ideas to help them improve business. The board will provide valuable input into the Food Solutions program, and keep CoreTrust attune to our members’ needs.
“Part of it is the camaraderie – being around industry peers,” said Young. “The other part is finding mutual pain points and solving them as a collective.”
