You must be a registered participant with Premier to utilize Meals on Wheels America contract. If not, first register at http://www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org/aboutmembership. Then, enroll with Premier.
The Premier and US Foods team will contact you once your account is finalized and give you everything you need to begin purchasing.

Orders are placed online through the Premier/US Foods proprietary ordering system Food Service Direct Order (FSDO). Orders can also be placed through customer service at the individual distribution centers.

Premier participated in an official RFP for the national association for Meals on Wheels America in 2014. Upon award we focused on two of the primary spends for agencies throughout the association – foodservice and office supplies. As we continue to develop our partnership we will aggregate volume in order to provide deeper discounts for all association members. If you have questions related to other contracts visit Supply Chain Advisor at www.premierinc.com.

If you have specific questions related to the award process please visit the association site at www.mealsonwheels.org.

The Premier Foodservice Purchasing Program is a proven, 20+year foodservice purchasing program. It includes an aggressive national distribution program, discounted manufacturer agreements, technology solutions, cost management solutions, participant’s satisfaction surveys and ongoing communication from its participants to continually improve upon the existing offering. To date, the program has in excess of $4.0+ billion in purchasing power for its participants.

The chief advantages are:

1. Immediate savings on your foodservice expenditures through deviated pricing from manufacturers
2. Greater control and predictability of costs due to the thorough negotiations during the contracting process
3. Leveraging of your purchasing power to positively influence quality, labor, revenue or other concerns of your management staff
4. Reporting tools, menu planning and wellness programs that can improve operational efficiencies immediately
5. Ability to focus on internal goals and initiatives in the purchasing department while allowing the Premier contracting team to negotiate national contracts on the participants behalf by utilizing program awarded to Premier by Meals on Wheels America.

US Foods is the primary distributor for the foodservice programs and offerings that Premier negotiates on the behalf of its participants. One hundred percent of all products purchased from US Foods are priced based on the overall distribution agreement Premier has negotiated on behalf of its participants. This specific program is competitively bid every five (5) years, utilizing our detailed contracting process.

Committed Manufacturer Agreements (CMAs) are contracts that Premier has negotiated with manufacturers for a three (3) year period. The products are typically purchased through US Foods, but the deviated pricing and/or rebates are negotiated by Premier for Premier participants. Contracts are negotiated to determine cost into distribution and have various controls built in to protect against extreme market fluctuations. On average there are in excess of 270+ CMA contracts in place that cover 80 product categories and over 50,000+ actual products. Participants receive 100% of the rebates with no processing fees. Participants have the option to purchase items that are not on the CMA list, understanding that the greatest value is on products that Premier has negotiated terms and conditions as it relates to cost.

• Dry, refrigerated and frozen grocery
• Dairy
• Milk
• Center of the plate
• Medical nutritional products
• Produce
• Disposables
• Janitorial chemicals
• Beverages – coffee, tea and small wares
• Kitchen equipment.

1. This program is more of a single source supplier vs. multiple distributors awarded by line item bids. A prime vendor type relationship reduces ordering time, invoice processing and number of deliveries to the facilities which helps to increase overall productivity within the department.
2. Milk and Fresh Bread suppliers – participants might be using a local milk and/or bread company. Most of these local suppliers provide daily service that includes rotation of product and management of expired product. The broadline distributor does not supply this service.
3. Produce – participants might be receiving daily deliveries for produce. The Premier food purchasing program has incentives and cost reductions in place for larger more efficient drop sizes. Daily produce deliveries could prevent the agency from realizing all of the potential savings opportunities.

For the distribution program with US Foods, Premier has negotiated the category margins that will be applied to the cost of goods on each product at time of invoicing. CMA products have three types of discounts

1. Deviations – the majority of Premier CMA contracts have discounts applied at the time of invoicing. The cost into US Foods is negotiated by Premier; divisions use this as the cost basis for the distribution mark‐
2. Allowances – Premier has negotiated an allowance with the manufacture to be applied to the division cost (that has been defined by Premier) at time of invoicing.
3. Rebates – discounts returned to the participating agency after the end of the quarter from Premier. Some vendors utilize one of these discount options and others might utilize multiple options depending on their contract with Premier.

Yes. The program has the following incentives:

1. Average Drop Size – the larger the drop the larger the incentive.
2. Accounts Payable – the faster the payment the larger the incentive.
3. New Business Incentive – If they purchase less than 20% of their annual volume from US Foods, they would be eligible for this incentive.
4. Direct Parent Incentive – if an agency has multiple locations they would be eligible for this incentive.  The criteria is based on the percentage of products purchased through US Foods and contracted manufacturer agreements (CMA) utilization.

Yes, Premier has numerous reporting tools on their contracting site and on the US Foods online ordering system. Participants will be able to look at purchases by specific location or they can roll purchases into one master account if they have multiple locations. This information can be in total, by manufacturer or by products. Additional reporting tools include:

1. Order guide price compared to invoice price
2. Off order guide report if facility utilized centralized order guides for a system
3. Service level reports
4. Order guide change report
5. Online invoices
6. Business analytics – customizable purchasing tool, by group or individual location.

Meals on Wheels America participants have access to Premier menu programs, health and wellness programs, culinary training and regional meetings that will highlight new programs.