The Candor blog
What we learn auditing real restaurant invoices — price creep, spreads, and the words that work on a rep call. Evidence first, no hype.
Honest comparison ·
The services that audit restaurant supplier invoices come in four shapes — monitoring software, enterprise procurement audits, cost-reduction firms, and one-time audits. Published pricing live-checked (and noted where none exists), plus an honest rule for choosing.
Invoice problems ·
"Overcharged" means three different things — a market move, a contract-allowed increase, or an error. Five line-item checks that sort your invoice into those buckets, for Sysco or any broadliner.
Comparison ·
There's no universal answer — your price at either is account-specific. The per-unit comparison method, the pass-through record, and the benchmark neither can hand you.
Invoice problems ·
US Foods publishes its fuel-surcharge grid, and the biggest broadliners' surcharges move with diesel prices — which makes those fees checkable. The mechanics, and four questions for your rep.
Invoice problems ·
The four transaction-line categories an audit sorts an invoice into, the per-unit math that makes items comparable, the arithmetic check, and the 15-minute version of a professional read.
Price creep ·
USDA's 2026 numbers show farm-level vegetable prices moving far harder than retail — real volatility that gives quiet price creep excellent camouflage. How to tell a market swing from distributor drift using your own invoices and public price series.
Price spreads ·
The rules that turn a price gap into a defensible annual figure — average not peak, observed usage, staleness limits, and when a number is too thin to publish at all. Worked on a documented comparison from our own 2026 Phoenix invoices and quotes.
Invoice problems ·
The seven places distributor overcharges hide — price creep, pack-size changes, off-contract pricing, substitutions, fees, arithmetic errors, short deliveries — and how to check each.
Consolidation ·
Sysco's ~$29B acquisition of Restaurant Depot, the FTC petition, the honest counterpoint, and the three moves independents should make now.
Negotiation ·
Cost-plus-fixed vs cost-plus-percentage vs margin — which structure you're on decides how much price increases cost you, and the three questions that surface it.
Comparison ·
Cash-and-carry vs delivery isn't which is better — it's which items belong in which channel, and what delivery convenience actually costs you per case.
Food cost ·
The real 28–35% range (NRA 2026: 32.4% full-service), why prime cost matters more, and the purchasing-side lever most operators never pull.
Invoice problems ·
The exact six-step method behind our audits — rank by spend, check the math, catch pack-size tricks, benchmark, check creep — plus when to just hand it off.
Distributor pricing ·
How broadline pricing actually works — cost-plus contracts, volume tiers, why the same case costs different amounts across town, and what leverage independents really have.
Price creep ·
Why invoice prices drift up ('little pushback', in Sysco's own words), why inflation doesn't explain your spread, and the rep-call script structure that actually works.
Price spreads ·
Real 2026 Phoenix invoice spreads — 12.5% on chicken, 25% on soy sauce — why they exist, what one line item is worth per year, and how to find yours.
Honest comparison ·
An honest comparison from a company that sells one of the four: what each tool actually does, its real boundary, and who should choose what.