CGA Strategy and Prestige Purchasing have joined forces to launch the Foodservice Price Index, a significant new tool for measuring food price fluctuations and trends.
The Index will measure typical baskets of goods and fluctuations in prices across various categories. Data will be analysed in subscription services and is intended to be a more accurate alternative to the government’s Consumer Price Index.
CGA Strategy chief executive Phil Tate said: “We’ve been through 101 million rows of historical data points from wholesalers from the last 24 months and compared them to the CPI. There is a clear difference in trends between the two sectors which is mainly due to the on-going supermarket price war, generated by the increase in Discounters, Convenience and Online. This is creating a major drag on prices, which is not the situation in the foodservice wholesale market. When we spoke to Prestige Purchasing about this, we were excited about working together to create a more accurate and relevant toolbox for the foodservice world”.
Prestige Purchasing chief executive David Read said: “While the CPI data is relevant for consumers and retail supermarkets, it doesn’t reflect prices on offer to caterers. Buyers who rely on CPI may be acting in an ill-informed manner when negotiating with suppliers. This is because the CPI is calculated using supermarket selling prices instead of foodservice wholesale prices, and we now know that these market movements are distinctly different.”
