Too many vendors providing too many goods and services to too many locations.
Aegis Living knew its process was not sustainable.
So when the Bellevue, Washington-based senior living provider, which operates over 38 communities in California, Nevada and Washington, sought to streamline its vendor relationships, especially in food service and medical supplies, it turned to Team Four Foodservice. A leader in the food service group purchasing sector, Team Four helps senior living operators track vendor opportunities, manage contracts and identify new pricing wins.
“Aegis had historically worked with multiple vendors, so they had identified the opportunity of streamlining food procurement to one main broadline distributor,” says Ashleigh Pedersen, RDN, Aegis Living Vice President of Enterprise Culinary Services. “Team Four helps us ensure that service levels are where we need them to be so that we’re not running out of product.”
Since switching to Team Four in 2018, Aegis has reduced its total vendor partners, increased its quality and even saved 30% on its medical supplies. They view Team Four as part of their Friends of Aegis vendor program.
“They have been essential in helping us dissect our own information to say, ‘Are we getting the best bang for our buck?’” Pedersen says. “In senior living today, we have to really make sure that every penny is spent wisely and that we’re keeping costs down for our seniors. Team Four helps us do that.”
How Team Four helps Aegis in three key areas
Prior to working with Team Four, Aegis was drawing over 9,000 food items across its portfolio, working with multiple vendors depending on each of their three states. With Team Four and their food distribution vendor, they’ve been able to get that down to roughly 2,500 items. They’ve also seen medical supply wins. All of it factors into three areas where they have found success.
- Balancing mission with margins
As we always say, senior living is a mission-driven business. But it’s also a business. For Aegis Living, they need consistency in pricing to manage their margins while keeping services affordable for their residents.
“Our partnership with Team Four allows us to make sure we’re keeping product costs consistent throughout each contract cycle,” Pedersen says. “They’re helping manage those contracts so that our margins stay where we expect them to be, and seniors can continue to access the services they need. We have that stability and confidence knowing that Team Four has got our back.”
- Cutting costs on contracts without comprising quality and care
Senior living is often a hyper-local business, with many residents moving to a community from their hometown or nearby. Aegis residents live in the Northwest, bringing certain culinary expectations.
“If I don’t have good quality salmon on the menu, for instance, our residents are going to notice,” Pedersen says. With Team Four, Aegis is able to bring them their precise product specs and get the best prices without cutting product quality.
That goes for medical supplies, too.
“Incontinence products are critical to what we do in senior living,” she says. “Knowing our residents are comfortable while maintaining their dignity, and providing our team members a variety of types to best serve the residents while making their jobs easier — that is crucial for us. Team Four goes out and they advocate for us. They make sure that manufacturers have those items available for us, that the distributors have everything stocked and that it’s all quickly delivered. I can call and say, ‘This is what I need,’ and I have it within our communities here in the next 24 hours.”
- Embracing a world of data-driven decisions
“We talk about this with our general managers: if you don’t know your numbers, you’re not managing your business,” Pedersen says. For Aegis, knowing their numbers means knowing food cost, and any other product cost, per resident day. The data from Team Four lets Aegis make decisions on where to invest more, and what to leave as is.
That matters in food, it matters in medical, and it matters in region-specific ways. In California, there are HVAC and electricity challenges unique to the region. Team Four brings them data and information around energy rebates.
“The importance of partnering with Team Four is that they are another resource and advocate in our back pocket,” she says. “We don’t have to do all of that research ourselves. I don’t need to be the expert in every single product category. I can call Team Four and know that they know the expert to talk to. They help us connect the dots for us to find those savings.”
This Views article is sponsored by Team Four Foodservice. To discover how Team Four Foodservice can support your community needs, visit teamfourfoods.com/contact-a-healthcare-team-member-today.html.
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