Question 1

What is a Market Basket Review?

Accepted Answer

A Market Basket Review is a confidential, no-obligation benchmark of your purchasing. You share 3–5 national food products — item name, brand, quantity, and current pricing if available — and PPP Corps benchmarks them against Premier's national manufacturer agreements to identify whether broader purchasing review opportunities exist.

Question 2

How long does a Market Basket Review take?

Accepted Answer

The initial discussion takes approximately 15 minutes. We review your first comparison together, see whether the results suggest deeper exploration, and you decide from there. No long meetings, no prep work beyond a few product examples, and no pressure either way.

Question 3

What products should we send for the review?

Accepted Answer

Send 3–5 national food products — item name, brand, quantity, and current pricing if you have it. Center-of-plate proteins, dairy, dry grocery and frozen items you buy regularly are good starting points. If you are unsure which items to choose, our team will walk you through it on the scheduling call.

Question 4

Is there any obligation?

Accepted Answer

None. The Market Basket Review is free, confidential and carries no obligation. There are no long-term contracts, no exclusivity requirements and no minimum volume commitments when you do engage.

Question 5

How are savings identified?

Accepted Answer

Savings come from direct price benchmarking against national agreements, contract term optimization, freight restructuring, spec optimization and operational waste reduction. Each finding is walked through with you on the live review call — contract tier, distributor structure, freight, spec or operational driver — so the source of every number is clear.

Question 6

What categories are covered?

Accepted Answer

PPP Corps covers the full operational spend stack: food and beverage, janitorial and sanitation, facilities and MRO, packaging and disposables, equipment and smallwares, office and technology, fuel and energy, linen and uniforms, groundskeeping, and resident-care supplies.

Question 7

Do you only help with food?

Accepted Answer

No. Member programs typically include 30–40% non-food operational spend — janitorial, facilities, packaging, office supplies and energy — under a single engagement, alongside foodservice procurement.

Question 8

What manufacturers are included?

Accepted Answer

PPP Corps holds agreements or preferred relationships with hundreds of manufacturers across foodservice, janitorial, facilities and operational categories — including major national brands and regional specialty producers.

Question 9

How does PPP Corps differ from a distributor?

Accepted Answer

PPP Corps is a group purchasing organization and procurement services firm, not a distributor. We sit on your side of the table and work across multiple distributors and direct manufacturers on behalf of our members — focused on purchasing leverage, contract depth and operational visibility rather than moving cases.

Question 10

What operational support is provided?

Accepted Answer

Every member receives a dedicated category team that handles benchmarking, contract negotiation, supplier management, invoice auditing, contract performance tracking and quarterly business reviews — operational purchasing solutions, not just pricing.

Question 11

How long does onboarding take?

Accepted Answer

Onboarding depends on organizational complexity — typically about 2–3 months from agreement signing to full program activation. A single-location operator may move faster; a multi-property or multi-distributor portfolio may take longer. We work at the pace of your operation.

Question 12

How do Premier, PPP Corps and US Foods work together?

Accepted Answer

Premier is the national GPO that negotiates manufacturer contracts using $60B+ in member volume. PPP Corps is your sponsor and single point of contact — we activate those contracts at your operation, run market basket reviews, track contract performance and handle ongoing category strategy. US Foods is the strategic broadline distributor that fulfills orders under PPP-managed price files and service-level scorecards. You contract with PPP; Premier sits behind us; US Foods delivers.

Question 13

We already have a GPO. Why look at another one?

Accepted Answer

We're not asking you to replace your current GPO. Most operators we work with already belong to a buying group. A Market Basket Review simply benchmarks your current pricing against Premier's contract portfolio for the categories you care about. If your existing GPO is already competitive, the review validates that. If there are gaps — usually in specific categories or contract terms — we show you exactly where, and you decide whether it's worth acting on.

Question 14

We use Foodbuy. How is PPP different?

Accepted Answer

Foodbuy is a strong national program, and many operators run it well. The honest answer is that pricing depth varies by category, region and contract tier. A Market Basket Review puts your Foodbuy pricing line-by-line against what Premier contracts deliver for your same SKUs. Outcomes vary — sometimes Foodbuy is tighter on center-of-plate while Premier wins on janitorial, packaging or facilities. The review tells you which categories are worth moving and which are best left alone.

Question 15

We use Avendra. Is there a reason to look at PPP?

Accepted Answer

Avendra is well-established in hospitality and senior living. We don't position against them — we benchmark against them. Where we tend to add value is in non-food operational categories (janitorial, facilities, packaging, MRO) and in giving you item-level transparency rather than a quarterly contract summary. If your Avendra pricing holds up in the review, that's useful information. If it doesn't, you have a documented case for renegotiation — with Avendra or with us.

Question 16

We're already with Sysco. Doesn't that cover us?

Accepted Answer

Sysco is a capable distributor and the relationship may be working well for you. The question a Market Basket Review answers is a different one: are the contract terms behind your Sysco pricing as deep as they could be? Distributor pricing is built on manufacturer agreements; Premier's contracts often sit one layer beneath what a single operator can negotiate alone. The review compares your current Sysco price file to what's available under Premier contracts — you keep Sysco if the economics work, or route specific categories elsewhere if they don't.

Question 17

What if I'm under contract?

Accepted Answer

Organizations often benchmark purchasing environments even while under agreement. A Market Basket Review is designed to help you understand pricing depth, contract structure, flexibility and operational opportunities — not to force immediate changes. Many members use the review to inform their next renewal conversation or to validate that current terms remain competitive. There is no obligation to switch, and we work within your existing timeline.

Question 18

Can you sign an NDA before we share invoices?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We routinely sign mutual NDAs before any invoice data changes hands, and we're happy to use your paper or ours. Invoice data is handled by our category team only, never shared outside the engagement, and is purged on request once the review is complete.

Question 19

Can you send results from other clients before we engage?

Accepted Answer

We can share anonymized, aggregated benchmarks by industry and category — typical savings ranges, what gets reviewed, what an output looks like — and we're happy to walk through a sample report on a call. We don't share client-specific results without their permission, for the same reason we wouldn't share yours. The most useful comparison is your own numbers against the market, which is exactly what the Market Basket Review produces.

Question 20

What schools and universities do you work with?

Accepted Answer

Our higher-education footprint includes institutions such as Yale, Stanford, USC, Washington State University and the University of Washington — across dining services, residence life and athletics concessions. We keep a small, real customer set per industry rather than padding a logo wall.

Question 21

How do I know this is even worth exploring?

Accepted Answer

If your annual operational spend is above roughly $2M and you haven't done a third-party market basket review in the last 12–18 months, it's almost always worth a look. The review is free, takes about an hour of your team's time to pull invoices, and the worst-case outcome is a documented confirmation that your current pricing is competitive. That's a useful answer either way.

Question 22

What's the ROI?

Accepted Answer

It varies by organization and by how mature your procurement function already is. As a general pattern, members tend to see net savings in the first 90 days that exceed any associated program costs, with addressable savings of 5–15% across reviewed categories. We don't promise a specific number until we've seen your data — anyone who does is guessing. The Market Basket Review is the honest version of that ROI conversation.

Question 23

Do schools actually save money through this?

Accepted Answer

Often, yes — but the savings profile is different from a hotel or restaurant group. School dining typically sees the largest gains in non-food categories (chemicals, paper, packaging, MRO) and in protein and grocery contract depth rather than headline price drops. Smaller institutions often see more upside than larger systems that already have a procurement officer. The review will show you where the room is and where it isn't.

Everything you need to know about working with us.

Getting Started

How It Works

The Partnership

Comparing Programs

Process & Trust

Industry Fit

Engagement

Common Concerns