Strength in NUMBERS

摘要

Large group purchasing organizations have had fans in healthcare for many years. As the economy has forced operators to make every dollar count, other foodservice segments have looked into different types of group purchasing organizations. According to a recent Technomic study, about 17% of foodservice operators (mostly in non-commercial segments) purchase through a GPO. David Henkes, vice president for Technomic, noted that the penetration levels vary widely by market segment. For example, healthcare has 97% participation with GPOs, whereas schools have only 39%. The study reported that on specific product categories, the cost savings of participating in a GPO could be 10% or 15%, but overall the amount of savings depends greatly on how much the operations purchase. Henkes gave an average overall savings of about 5% to 7% but admits the number varies widely. While Henkes says that the large GPOs (Premier, Amerinet, Novation, HPSI) are growing rapidly, smaller, self-made GPOs are also a hotbed of activity. These "alternative" GPOs are popping up all around the country, whether they focus on small school districts or neighboring colleges or are dedicated to a certain type of product. FSD spoke to three operators to find out how these smaller GPOs still make a large impact.