Catch Supplier Price Creep: a Weekly Invoice Check for Restaurants

Supplier prices rarely jump. They creep: a few cents on one item this week, a smaller case next month, a new fuel charge on the delivery. This playbook takes an afternoon with four weeks of invoices and leaves you with a price list you can check in ten minutes a week.

Restaurant owners I talk to know their prices are going up, but nobody has time to compare four weeks of invoices line by line. I built Supplier Invoice Check to do that comparison for them, and this playbook is the same method done by hand.

Food prices move every month. The USDA tracks them in its Food Price Outlook, but your own invoices are the only record of what you actually pay.

Step 1: Gather four weeks of invoices

You need every invoice from every supplier for four weeks: produce, protein, dry goods, dairy, paper and cleaning. Phone photos are fine as long as every line is readable.

• Four consecutive weeks
• Every supplier, including the small ones you pay in cash or by card
• Credit memos and returns, kept with the invoice they belong to

Step 2: Build one item list

Put every line from every invoice into one sheet. Copy this table into a spreadsheet:

• One row per invoice line, every supplier in the same sheet
• Item names written the same way each time, so the same item lines up

Step 3: Work out the price per unit

Divide the case price by the number of units in the case. This is the column that matters. A smaller case at the same price is a price increase, and it only shows up here.

• Price per unit filled in for every row
• Any item whose pack size changed during the four weeks, marked

Step 4: Spot what went up

Sort by item, then by date. For each item you buy every week, compare the first week's price per unit with the last week's. Multiply the difference by how many units you buy in a month to see what it costs you.

• Every item that went up, with the extra cost a month
• The five items costing you the most extra, circled

When I built the checker, every invoice had to add up to its own total before any line was used. Anything that doesn't add up gets set aside, never guessed. Do the same with yours.

Step 5: Check for double billing and new fees

Two problems hide in plain sight: the same invoice paid twice, and charges that were not there a month ago.

• Any invoice number that appears twice, or two invoices from one supplier with the same date and total
• Fuel surcharges, delivery fees, small-order fees or split-case fees that started during the four weeks
• Credits you were promised for short or damaged deliveries, and whether they showed up

Step 6: Find the same item cheaper from a supplier you already use

Look for items that appear on more than one supplier's invoices. Compare their price per unit side by side. Buying from a supplier you already use keeps your delivery days and payment terms the same.

• Every item you can get from two of your current suppliers
• The saving a month for each, using your real monthly units

Step 7: Ask your rep, then check every week

Ask before you move the order. A price from a supplier you already use is a fair ask:

Hi [rep],

I went through my last four weeks of invoices. A few things:

1. [Item] went from [$X] to [$Y] per [unit]. Can we go back to [$X]?
2. I'm getting [item] for [$Z] per [unit] from another supplier I use.
   Can you match it?
3. [Fee name] started on [date]. What is it for, and can it come off?

Thanks,
[Name, restaurant, account number]

• Message sent, with the date
• A weekly ten-minute check on your top ten items, on the same day each week

Or let the free tool do it

Supplier Invoice Check does steps 2 to 6 for you: send 4 weeks of invoices from every supplier and get a 2-page report on what went up and what it cost you, invoices billed twice, and where the same item is cheaper from a supplier you already use. It's free.