Gordon Food Service accélère ses achats grâce à Archlet
À propos
Gordon Food Service est l'un des principaux distributeurs de services alimentaires en Amérique du Nord, fournissant aux restaurants, aux établissements de santé, aux écoles et aux entreprises des produits et services de qualité aux États-Unis et au Canada.
L'industrie
Revenus
21 milliards de dollars américains
Highlights
For the team at Gordon Food Service (GFS), Archlet has become more than just a sourcing tool. It helps them negotiate with confidence, analyze data in seconds, and uncover savings they might otherwise miss. What used to take hours in spreadsheets now happens instantly, freeing up time for strategic conversations with suppliers. Complex processes feel simple, errors are caught early, and even freight challenges are easier to manage. Just as valuable, the GFS team feels supported by a partner that listens, adapts, and continuously innovates alongside them.
Challenge
Gordon Food Service, one of North America’s largest foodservice distributors, runs complex and recurring sourcing events across direct categories. But procurement teams faced challenges with efficiency and accuracy when relying on spreadsheets. Freight costs in particular added complexity, and negotiations were often slowed down by manual comparisons and error-prone analysis. “The challenge for us was not just data management, it was being able to compare suppliers fairly and catch issues before they slipped through,” says Kelvin DeVries, Strategic Procurement Technology Manager at GFS. “We needed a solution that made our processes faster, more transparent, and less reliant on Excel.”
Solution
In 2021, GFS partnered with Archlet to transform how it approaches sourcing, negotiations, and supplier analysis. The platform stood out for its combination of flexibility and usability. “Archlet makes sourcing efficient, accurate, and even enjoyable,” explains Matt Irwin, Strategic Procurement Analyst and product owner of Archlet at GFS. “We can toggle between net cost, freight, and total cost with ease, compare against baselines, and instantly spot errors or gaps that would have taken hours to find in spreadsheets.”
Key features have become essential to GFS:
- Negotiation Day Tools: The Focus on a Supplier view in Archlet shows immediately if updated bids are closing the gap, while Compare Bids enables fact-based conversations like “You’re off by 5% - can you move?”.
- Time-Saving Workflows: Drag-and-drop bid uploads and grouping by item number or description eliminate the need for offline Excel work.
- Freight Flexibility: The ability to adjust and compare freight costs on the fly helps procurement teams manage their biggest cost driver more effectively.
Beyond the tool, GFS highlights Archlet’s partnership approach. “Archlet continuously adapts the platform based on our input,” Matt adds. “It feels less like working with a vendor and more like building solutions together.”
Results
- Significant time savings through automated bid uploads and built-in grouping features
- Smarter negotiations powered by side-by-side cost comparisons and live gap analysis
- Error reduction with formula-based costing and built-in validation checks
- Greater transparency in freight cost management across suppliers
“Archlet helps us negotiate smarter, analyze faster, and uncover savings more effectively,” says Matt. “It has become a core part of how we run sourcing.”
Outlook
With adoption strong across direct categories, GFS is now expanding how it leverages Archlet. Supplier negotiations are more data-driven, and continuous learning through Archlet’s webinars and customer community is inspiring new use cases every quarter.
“As we continue this journey, Archlet will remain central to how we scale sourcing excellence,” Kelvin concludes. “The combination of usability, analytics, and partnership makes Archlet a long-term solution for us.”
