Vendor order minimums: how to plan your orders around them

A food distributor's minimum order is the smallest order it will deliver. Vendors set it as a dollar amount, a number of cases or a number of line items. Depending on the vendor, an order under the minimum gets a fee on the invoice or no delivery that day.

Minimums matter most when you split your buying between vendors to save money. Moving one item to a cheaper vendor can drop the first order under its minimum, and then the fee eats the saving. This guide shows how to check a move before you make it, with a worked example and a template you can copy.

Every vendor name, minimum and price below is made up for the examples. Your vendors' terms will be different, so ask your sales rep.

The three kinds of minimum

Ask each vendor which kind of minimum it uses and what counts toward it.

Under a case minimum, a $9 case of napkins counts the same as a $160 case of brisket. Adding a cheap case you will use soon is the easy way to reach it.

Under a line-item minimum, ten cases of milk are one line. Ordering more of what is already on the order does nothing. You need another product.

What happens when an order comes in under the minimum

It depends on the vendor and on your account. These are the usual outcomes:

• A small-order fee or delivery fee is added to the invoice.
• The order waits for the next delivery day.
• The vendor turns the order down.
• The rep lets it go this once. Don't plan on a second time.

Some vendors use two numbers. Below the lower one they won't deliver at all. Between the two they deliver and charge a fee. Write both down.

Also ask about fees that apply to every order, such as a fuel surcharge. Those stay the same however big the order is, so they don't change where an item should go.

Get the answers by email. Minimums and fees are often set per account, so another restaurant's numbers may not match yours.

A worked example: when saving $14 costs you $21

You order from two vendors on Tuesday.

• Heartland Foodservice has a $500 minimum. Under $500 it delivers and adds a $35 fee.
• Valley Fresh Produce has a $250 minimum. Under $250 it adds a $20 delivery fee.

Your Heartland order comes to $548. One line is a case of Hass avocados at $62. Valley Fresh sells the same case (same count, same grade) for $48, so moving it saves $14. Your Valley Fresh order is already $310.

The $14 saving became a $21 loss. If Heartland refused orders under $500 instead of charging a fee, the move would cost you the whole truck.

Work out the room over each minimum

Before you move anything out of an order, work out how much room it has over its minimum.

Room over the minimum = order total − minimum

Heartland has $548 − $500 = $48 of room. The avocados cost $62 at Heartland, which is more than the room, so moving them breaks the minimum. An item that costs $48 or less there could move. The room is shared, so two $30 items can't both go.

Three ways to keep the saving

1. Fill the gap with something you would buy soon anyway. A $28 case of to-go containers you planned to order next week brings Heartland back to $514. You keep the $14 and spend $28 a few days early. Pick items that keep, such as paper goods, dry goods or frozen food, and that you will use within a week or two.
2. Swap an item the other way. If lemons cost the same at both vendors, move $22 of lemons from Valley Fresh to Heartland. Heartland lands at $508 and Valley Fresh at $336. Both clear.
3. Leave the avocados where they are this week. Move them in a week when the Heartland order has more room.

The test for any move is one line:

Real saving = price difference − any new fees the move causes

If you buy something early to reach a minimum, count it only when you would not have used it within a week or two. Otherwise it is cash sitting on your shelf.

When the move opens a second order

The same math applies when a move creates an order that wasn't going to happen. Say you weren't ordering from Valley Fresh this week. The avocados alone make a $48 order against a $250 minimum. With the $20 fee, the $14 saving turns into a $6 loss, and you have one more delivery to check in and one more invoice to file.

Small savings can still add up. Five items that each save $3 to $6 at Valley Fresh are not worth a delivery one at a time. Together they might make a $260 order that clears Valley Fresh's minimum, as long as moving them leaves Heartland above $500.

How to plan your orders around minimums

1. List each vendor's minimum and fee

Keep one table for every vendor you buy from, next to your order guide. An order guide is the list of what you buy, from whom, in what pack size and in what usual amount. The cutoff in the table is the latest time a vendor takes an order for its next delivery.

Add a column for the date you last confirmed each row with the rep.

2. Group your items by vendor before you look for savings

Build each vendor's order from your order guide first, using the vendor you normally buy each item from. Total each order and write down its room over the minimum. Now you know how much each order can give up before you start moving items around.

If one order is under its minimum most weeks, you may be taking too many deliveries from that vendor. Divide your weekly spend with the vendor by its minimum and round down. That is the most deliveries per week that can clear it. At $1,100 a week with Heartland, $1,100 ÷ $500 = 2.2, so two deliveries a week can each clear the minimum. With three, at least one would come in under.

3. Move an item only when both orders still clear their minimums

Before you move an item to a cheaper vendor, check:

• It is cheaper on the same unit, such as per pound or per each. Our guide to comparing food vendor prices shows the math.
• Its price at the old vendor is less than that order's room over the minimum.
• The new vendor's order clears its minimum after the move, or you were already ordering from that vendor this week.
• If a minimum does break, the saving is bigger than the fee. If the vendor won't deliver under its minimum, don't make the move.

If one minimum keeps getting in your way, ask the rep whether it can be lowered for your account.

4. Use a club store run for small fill-ins

A club store or a cash-and-carry (a wholesale store where you pay and take the goods with you) has no delivery minimum, because you pick the order up yourself. That makes it useful for a few items you ran short on, or for a small order that would come in under a distributor's minimum.

Count the trip as a cost. A manager paid $22 an hour who spends 75 minutes driving there and back costs $27.50 in wages, before fuel. A trip made only to save $14 on avocados loses money. When someone is going anyway, the fill-ins can ride along.

5. Recheck your minimums when menus or volume change

Your orders change shape over the year, and a minimum that was easy in July can be hard in January. Go back to step 1 when:

• A new menu shifts your spending toward one vendor or away from it.
• A slow season shrinks every order.
• You open another location. Each account has its own minimum, so each location's order has to clear it on its own. Our guide to purchasing across more than one restaurant covers the rest.
• A vendor writes to say its minimum or fees are changing.
• You add a vendor or drop one.

Then look at last month's invoices for small-order and delivery fees. Each one is an order that came in under a minimum, and a sign that step 2 needs another look.

Checklist before you send each order

• [ ] Each vendor's order clears its minimum, or you decided the fee is worth paying
• [ ] Every item you moved saves more than any fee the move caused
• [ ] Anything added to reach a minimum keeps, and you will use it within a week or two
• [ ] Club store fill-ins go on a trip someone is making anyway
• [ ] Your list of minimums and fees was confirmed with each rep this quarter

How RestaurantMate shows minimums in your cart

In RestaurantMate, you set each vendor's minimum once per location. Go to Location settings > Minimums, pick Dollar amount, Cases or Line items for each vendor, and type the number. It saves as you type. The cart shows these minimums but does not stop you from sending an order that is under one.

The cart is one cart for all your vendors, split by vendor. Under each vendor's name, a bar shows how close the order is: "$120 to the $500 minimum", or "Minimum $500 met" once you're over. The Ready to send summary lists every vendor with its subtotal. A vendor that is still under its minimum shows how far under it is, such as "$120 under minimum", so you see the gap before you send.

When another of your vendors is cheaper on a line, the cart shows a green Save chip with that vendor's name. Click it to open Compare vendors, where Swap in cart moves the quantity to that vendor. The chip compares item prices. It does not look at minimums, so after a swap, check both vendors' bars. That is step 3 of this guide, done on one screen. RestaurantMate shows you the gap and leaves the decision with you, because some weeks paying the fee is the right call.

RestaurantMate doesn't know your vendors' delivery days, order cutoffs or delivery fees, so keep those in the table from step 1. To catch fees after they happen, set an alert in plain words, such as "Let me know when Heartland Foodservice charges a delivery fee over $15". Alerts arrive by email. The help article on creating an alert shows how.

When the order is ready, you can send your order to every vendor's online cart from one place. RestaurantMate fills each cart and checks every line, so you can review and check out on each vendor's website. The prices behind the Save chips come from your own vendor accounts. The RestaurantMate device, a small computer in your restaurant, signs in to your vendors' websites overnight with your own logins, and every price is put on the same unit. The cart and order tracking page has the details, and the help article on reviewing your cart and sending it walks through the screens.

Get started: 60 days free, then $99 a month per location. No card required. The RestaurantMate device has a $300 refundable deposit, and one device covers up to two locations. You can also try the live demo first.