Compare food distributor price lists, item by item
See exactly what changed when a distributor sends a new price list, or compare quotes from several distributors for the same order — lowest price per item, case and pack-size realities included, with nothing uploaded to run the comparison.
Why distributor price lists are hard to track
A restaurant, café, or caterer buying from a food distributor is dealing with a different kind of price list than a typical B2B quote — case pricing, pack-size drift, and a catalog that runs long.
- Each distributor prices by the case, not the item — a "case of 150" and a "case of 40 lb" aren't the same unit, so a case-price increase can hide a unit-price decrease or the reverse.
- Pack sizes change between price rounds. A supplier can hold the case price steady while shrinking the pack — the per-unit cost still moved, even though the line item "looks" unchanged.
- A full distributor catalog runs to hundreds of SKUs across categories (dairy, produce, dry goods, paper, cleaning) — scanning it by eye for what actually changed isn't realistic every time a new price sheet arrives.
Try it with a sample distributor price list
A fictional 12-line sample covering coffee, dairy, produce, dry goods, oil, and paper goods — with realistic case sizes and per-unit pricing, the way a real distributor sheet is laid out. Download it and drop it straight into a comparison, or use it to see the column structure CostRift expects before mapping your own file.
Download the sample price list (.csv)Old vs. new: catching a distributor price increase
When a distributor sends an updated price sheet, Price Change compares it against the previous one and shows every item that went up, went down, was added, or was dropped — plus the margin impact on each, if you map your selling price. A coffee case that quietly moved from 24.00 to 27.00 shows up as a flagged +12.5% line, not something you notice three invoices later.
For the decision that follows a real increase — absorb it, pass it through, or go back to the distributor — see supplier price increase and the margin impact calculator.
Try Price Change with example dataSeveral distributors, one order: quote comparison
Sourcing the same order from two or three distributors means lining up two or three price sheets with different layouts and item codes. Supplier Comparison does that matching and shows the cheapest distributor per item, how much of the order each one actually covers, and — with quantities mapped — what a mixed-distributor order could save against buying everything from one. See comparing supplier quotes for the general version of this workflow.
Try Supplier Comparison with example dataHow each item is classified
- Comparable
- At least two distributors quoted the item at a usable price, so a lowest-price winner is shown.
- Single offer
- Only one distributor quoted the item — there's nothing to compare it against, so no winner is declared.
- Currency or unit mismatch
- Distributors quoted the item in different currencies or units of measure. CostRift does not convert either, so no winner is shown for that item.
- Needs review
- A duplicate or ambiguous line in one distributor's list — CostRift leaves it unresolved for you to check rather than guessing.
What this isn't
CostRift compares distributor prices per item — it is not menu-costing or recipe-costing software. It doesn't break a dish into ingredient quantities, compute a plate cost, or manage your menu. If a distributor price change needs translating into what it does to a specific recipe's cost, that step happens outside CostRift, using the clean per-item price data a comparison gives you.
Frequently asked questions
Does CostRift calculate my food cost percentage or do recipe costing?
No. CostRift compares the price your distributor charges per item — old vs. new, or distributor vs. distributor. It does not break a recipe into ingredient quantities or compute a plate cost; dedicated recipe-costing tools (not CostRift) do that. What CostRift gives you is the clean per-item cost input that kind of calculation needs.
My distributor's price list has case prices, not unit prices — can CostRift handle that?
CostRift compares whatever unit cost column you map — if your file lists a case price, that's what gets compared. Comparing on an actual per-unit basis (per lb, per case of 12) is only safe when you first convert the case price yourself or your source file already has a per-unit column, since CostRift does not infer a pack size from a product description.
Can I compare more than two distributors at once?
Yes. Supplier Comparison accepts a quote file from each distributor you're evaluating for the same order and shows the cheapest per item plus each distributor's coverage — how much of your list they actually quoted.
What if my distributors send PDFs or emails instead of spreadsheets?
CostRift reads CSV and XLSX files only — it does not parse PDFs, emails, or photos. If your distributor's price sheet arrives as a spreadsheet (most do, or can on request), that's what you'd map in.
Are my distributor files uploaded anywhere?
No. Files are read and compared in your browser and are not sent to CostRift servers to run the comparison. No account is required to try it.
Comparing office or industrial supplier bids instead of a food distributor catalog? See procurement price comparison. Running this across a team? CostRift for purchasing teams.
See it with the sample list, or your own
Try the sample distributor price list above, or add your own distributor quotes and see the lowest price per item in one comparison.