2025: towards a new relationship architecture between restaurateurs and suppliers in Europe

The end of a cycle: the erosion of the "interchangeable supplier" model

Until 2020, the dominant logic in foodservice was that of the "lowest bidder". Purchasing performance was judged almost exclusively by unit price. This approach had the effect of favoring short, non-binding contracts, with suppliers constantly competing against each other, sometimes to the detriment of stable supplies.

The health, climate and logistics crises of 2020 to 2023 revealed the extreme vulnerability of these multi-site catering chains. In 2024, 37% of foodservice groups in Europe faced at least one critical disruption on a product family for more than one quarter. By 2025, reliance on single, internationalized sourcing has become a strategic risk.

Purely contractual logic is gradually being replaced by principles of sustainable partnership, concerted risk management, and shared resilience.

Towards a redefinition of partnership: the emergence of co-performance

European organized food service groups, whether operating in school, corporate, hospital or commercial catering, are beginning to treat certain suppliers as veritable strategic co-pilots.

This transformation is reflected in the emergence of a culture of co-performance:

• KPIs are no longer limited to lead times and prices, but include carbon footprint reduction, the ability to trace batches, flexibility in times of crisis, or the ability to co-invest in the digitalization of flows.
• Contractualization is evolving towards dynamic pacts, shorter but better equipped, often territorialized, indexed on shared data.
• Data exchange is becoming a standard: forecast consumption, breakage alerts, CSR reporting.

In several European countries, this evolution is encouraged by public incentives. In France, Denmark and Germany, territorial tendering or tripartite contract schemes are being tried out to secure supplies while structuring local supply chains.

The central role of digital purchasing management platforms

In this new paradigm, data becomes the vector of trust. Modern e-procurement no longer simply dematerializes orders: it structures, measures and steers the relationship.

• Price, volume, logistics and quality data are consolidated in real time, enabling objective comparisons between suppliers.
• AI, far from replacing the human relationship, comes to reinforce decision support by predicting risks of rupture, cost drifts, or the impacts of a change of reference.
• The most advanced systems enable suppliers to consult their own performance and correct their indicators collaboratively.

The digitalization of supplier relations thus creates the conditions forshared governance of commitments, results and continuous improvements.

New horizon: from contractual dependence to convergence of interests

In this model under construction, the supplier relationship is no longer based on asymmetry. It becomes a community of interest: that of sustainability, responsible competitiveness and the stability of supply chains.

The European trend is towards a convergence of interests.

The European trend is towards the creation of ecosystems of partner suppliers. These include:

• A rise in cooperative logics (sharing logistics platforms, co-financing processing units),
• An adaptation of sourcing to territories (French or EU origin, local organic, Zero kilometer),
• A consolidation of purchasing flows in alliances or groupings while leaving room for local maneuvering.

This is another way of doing purchasing: less about the volume negotiated, more about the duration of the relationship and the creation of shared value.

In 2025, in European organized catering, supplier relations can no longer be managed as a simple cost center, but as a strategic asset. It is now a lever for commitment, adaptation, and food sovereignty.

The groups that embrace this new relational architecture, based on transparency, co-performance and digitalization, will be the only ones able to secure their margins while meeting the expectations of society and regulators.

It's no longer the best prices that make the best contracts, but the best relationships.

In this dynamic of transformation, the digitalization of purchasing management plays a decisive role. Adoria supports foodservice groups in this transformation with its e-procurement solution dedicated to multi-site catering, designed to structure supplier relationships, automate flows, and consolidate performance.
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