Project interview: H.E.A.D. (Steigenberger Group)

Kloepfel Consulting GmbH / Sectors / Service Company / Project interview: H.E.A.D. (Steigenberger Group)

A chef and a purchasing consultant meet…

Lean purchasing in the hotel industry

The chefs of renowned Steigenberger hotels tasted 800 kg of meat from eight different suppliers over two days. The result: Savings in the six-digit range for the Steigenberger subsidiary H.E.A.D. Hotel Equipment and Design GmbH. The purchasing experts at Kloepfel Consulting made these savings possible by optimizing the purchasing of food and beverages.

At the beginning of the project, negotiations with existing suppliers dominated the agenda. But that was not enough for the project team. They also examined the product range. An international hotel chain like Steigenberger Hotels needs meat for restaurants, congress events and many other events. At the beginning of the project, 600 different types of meat of varying qualities were purchased from more than 15 different suppliers. In addition, there were local suppliers which were not listed in the system.

Steigenberger and Kloepfel Consulting create data transparency

This created a lack of transparency, as it was unclear who ordered which goods from whom and at what price. There was no uniform procurement of goods. Hotels also ordered goods independently of each other, without fixed standards. The result: a lack of fixed processes, no central control and management of purchasing and uniform quality standards. The Kloepfel Consulting team was faced with the task of finding two to three efficient partners for 80 hotels throughout Germany. These partners were supposed to be able to cover the entire product range and supply the hotels nationally.

Marcus Schilling

Manager Service Company

P +49 211 875 453 23

In order to master the challenge, the first step was to carry out a data analysis: “First, the data of the suppliers were evaluated and compared with the system and order data of the customer. This gave us a good overview of the meat purchases made and the demand,” says Duran Sarikaya, project manager and CEO of Kloepfel Consulting GmbH.

The big tasting

The range of 600 types of meat was reduced to 80 core items, which will be available at all hotels and cover the entire meat requirement. After a tender, eight suppliers were invited for the meat tasting. This took place on two days in Berlin. A jury consisting of executive chefs, F&B directors of the Steigenberger Hotel Group and two consultants from Kloepfel Consulting tasted 33 articles. The criteria were taste, smell, appearance and overall impression of the raw and prepared meat. The result: 90 percent of the articles were qualified and met the high quality requirements of the customer.

With the help of a dual-source strategy, savings of between 350,000 and 500,000 euros were achieved. Even after the official end of the project, Kloepfel Consulting will continue to support the Hotel Group and assist with real controlling. “The previous cooperation with the chefs and employees of the hotel has been very positive. In the beginning, every hotel ordered for itself, but in the course of the project we all pulled together and had a common goal with the optimization,” summarizes Sarikaya.

Services that pay off.

Feel free to contact us. Phone: +49 211 875 453 23 or Mail: rendite@kloepfel-consulting.com

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