When a UK hospitality group operates 50 hotels across the country, you might expect some variety in their operations. Different locations, different markets, different clientele. What you wouldn't expect is 50 completely separate procurement operations, each buying their own linen, food, and supplies with no coordination whatsoever.

But that's exactly what was happening at this particular group. And it was costing them a fortune.

The Challenge: Fifty Fiefdoms

The procurement director inherited what can only be described as organised chaos. Each hotel had its own general manager, and each GM had complete autonomy over purchasing decisions. In theory, this meant they could respond quickly to local needs. In practice, it meant the group had no purchasing power whatsoever.

The numbers told the story. Across 50 sites, they were buying from over 300 different suppliers. The same brand of bed linen was being purchased at wildly different prices depending on which hotel placed the order. One property in Manchester was paying £12 per pillowcase whilst another in Birmingham was paying £7.50 for exactly the same item from a different supplier.

Food purchasing was even worse. The hotels all served similar breakfast menus, yet they were buying eggs, bacon, and coffee from dozens of different suppliers at vastly different prices. There was no volume leverage, no strategic supplier relationships, and no visibility of what was being spent where.

The finance director calculated that the cost of goods sold was running at 38% of revenue—far higher than the industry benchmark of 28-32%. Something had to change, but the question was how to centralise procurement without removing the operational flexibility that local managers genuinely needed.

The Approach: Catalogue, Don't Dictate

Rather than imposing a rigid top-down system that would inevitably face resistance, the procurement team took a more pragmatic approach. They categorised all purchases into three tiers based on standardisation potential.

Tier one covered core items that were identical across all properties: bed linen, towels, toiletries, cleaning supplies, and breakfast staples. These items had to come from approved suppliers at negotiated prices. There was simply no justification for variation.

Tier two covered semi-standardised items where some local variation made sense: menu ingredients for lunch and dinner service, locally-sourced produce, and region-specific supplies. Here, they created a preferred supplier list but allowed GMs to source locally if they could demonstrate value.

Tier three was genuinely local purchases: emergency supplies, one-off event catering, and specialist services. These remained fully devolved to local discretion.

The platform became the enforcement mechanism. They uploaded a central pricing catalogue for all tier one items. Local general managers could still place orders whenever they needed, maintaining their operational autonomy. But they could only order from the approved catalogue at the negotiated prices.

The system didn't say "you can't buy bed linen." It said "you can buy bed linen—here are the approved options at the best prices we've negotiated." That subtle difference made all the difference to user adoption.

They negotiated new framework agreements with three national suppliers for linen, two for toiletries, and one major food distributor for breakfast items. The food distributor in particular was delighted to sign a deal covering 50 locations—something they'd never had visibility of before when each hotel ordered independently.

The Results: 15% Off the Bottom Line

The impact was immediate and substantial. In the first quarter after implementation, the cost of goods sold dropped from 38% to 32.3%—a reduction that translated to over £2.1 million in annualised savings across the group.

The bed linen example was particularly striking. By consolidating purchasing with a single supplier, they negotiated a 23% reduction on the previous average price. The supplier was happy because they'd gone from supplying 8 hotels sporadically to having a guaranteed contract across all 50 sites with predictable volumes.

Breakfast supplies saw similar gains. Centralised purchasing of eggs, bacon, sausages, coffee, and tea delivered a 17% saving whilst actually improving quality through better supplier relationships. The food distributor offered them access to a dedicated account manager and priority delivery slots during their busiest periods.

But the benefits went beyond price reduction. The procurement team now had complete visibility of spending patterns. They could see which hotels were over-ordering and potentially wasting food, which ones had unusual consumption patterns that might indicate poor controls, and where opportunities existed for further consolidation.

General managers, initially sceptical about losing autonomy, quickly became advocates of the new system. Ordering was actually easier because they had a curated catalogue rather than having to research suppliers themselves. Delivery was more reliable because suppliers prioritised their larger consolidated contracts. And their hotel P&L improved because input costs were lower.

Lessons for Multi-Site Organisations

The success of this centralisation project came down to three critical factors that any multi-site organisation could learn from.

First, they didn't try to centralise everything. By focusing on core items where standardisation made obvious sense, they avoided the political battles that often derail procurement transformation. Nobody could seriously argue that pillowcases needed to be different in Leeds versus London. Save your energy for the fights that matter.

Second, they maintained local autonomy within the framework. GMs could still order what they needed, when they needed it. The system didn't create bureaucracy or slow down operations. It just channelled purchasing through better routes. Autonomy over timing and quantity remained; autonomy over supplier selection was traded for better prices.

Third, they let the platform do the enforcing. Rather than having head office approval processes or purchase order sign-offs that would have created bottlenecks, the catalogue itself was the control. If it's in the catalogue, buy it. If it's not, escalate. Simple rules that everyone could follow.

The procurement director reflected that the hardest part wasn't the technology or even the supplier negotiations. It was getting the initial buy-in from the general managers. But once they saw that centralisation didn't mean losing control—just gaining better prices—resistance melted away. The numbers did the talking.

For any organisation struggling with fragmented purchasing across multiple sites, this case study offers a clear template: identify what should genuinely be standardised, negotiate the framework agreements, build the catalogue, and let the system do the work. The savings will follow.