How to run a monthly supplier price comparison in 30 minutes
A repeatable workflow to normalize units, spot the true cheapest supplier, and stop overpaying on the boring SKUs.
Most kitchens don't overpay because they picked the wrong supplier. They overpay because nobody re-checks the list after the first order, and because pack sizes make comparison hard.
Step 1 — Get every price list into the same shape
Ask each supplier for a current price list as CSV or Excel. You need four columns: item name, pack size, pack price, and unit. Everything else is noise.
Step 2 — Normalize to a base unit
A £12 case of 6×800g tomatoes and a £2.40 tin of 400g are only comparable at price-per-kilogram: £2.50/kg versus £6.00/kg. Convert everything to per-kg, per-litre, or per-each before you compare anything.
Step 3 — Compare only what matters
- Sort your ingredients by annual spend, not by price. The top 20 SKUs usually carry 70–80% of your food spend.
- For each of those, list every supplier's normalized price side by side.
- Factor in minimum order value, delivery days, and quality — the cheapest line isn't always the cheapest total.
Step 4 — Act, then re-check next month
Switch the clear wins, and use the comparison as leverage with your incumbent on the rest. Suppliers rarely match a price you can't show them. le mezon's comparison tool does the normalization and side-by-side ranking for you, and shows the annualized saving of each switch.