Growing fast, buying smart
Grocery Outlet is a deep-discount grocer on a mission: bring name-brand goods to shoppers at prices no one else can match. Its stores are independently owned and operated, backed by a corporate network that does the opportunistic buying behind the scenes, turning surplus and short-coded inventory into everyday wins for value-conscious families.
Behind the storefront is a rapidly expanding brick-and-mortar footprint: new stores, remodels, refrigeration projects, distribution facilities, and all the lease, repair, and construction work that keeps them running. As the business scaled, so did the need for a procurement discipline to match.
We spoke to Brian McAndrews, Chief Store Development Officer at Grocery Outlet, about how Market Dojo became the platform powering a brand-new procurement function, delivering pricing advantages, supplier flexibility, and a level of competitive tension the team had never had before.
No procurement team, until now
Grocery Outlet has always had a robust merchandise buying team that works closely with vendors on the products shoppers find on its shelves. But for everything else, construction materials, furniture, fixtures, equipment, refrigeration, there was no dedicated procurement function at all.
“Grocery Outlet historically has not had what would be traditionally considered an internal procurement team… those things were being procured individually through the various management groups for each of the disciplines.”
With a rapid expansion program underway, that approach was no longer fit for purpose. Senior leaders like the VP of Refrigeration were carrying procurement responsibility on top of a demanding day job, and the data needed to run a competitive process simply wasn’t being captured in one place.
Procurement as its own discipline
Brian’s view was unambiguous: optimised procurement is a specialty, not a side-of-desk task. His team of engineers and installers should be focused on design, engineering and execution, not on running RFPs.
“I perceive optimised procurement to be its own specialty. It is not a discipline that should be sitting at the side of someone’s desk. For instance, my Vice President of refrigeration should not be the one driving procurement of quantities of freezer cases.”
Standing up capability fast
Grocery Outlet engaged procurement specialist Jordan Jansen to help ramp up expertise in parallel with the expansion program, and Jordan introduced the team to Market Dojo as part of the first wave of projects.
The pressure was immediate. Utility providers were running planned blackouts to upgrade the regional power grid. Generator installations, LED retrofits, engineering designs and equipment packages all needed to go to market quickly, across many stores, with competitive tension that the old way of working couldn’t provide.
A specialist discipline, finally resourced
The procurement piece itself is a very focused specialised discipline that requires full attention and data management around putting out an RFP, gathering the bids, negotiating the bids, creating the competition to optimise pricing.
A platform the team, and its suppliers, could pick up fast
Why Market Dojo?
For a brand-new procurement function, ease of adoption was everything. The team didn’t have time to lose to a long onboarding curve, and neither did the suppliers they were inviting into RFPs.
“I have found the platform intuitive, easy to use. We were up and running very quickly with minimal training. And the vendors that we were negotiating with and distributing information out to had the same experience, they were able to participate in the activities without a steep learning curve, relative to how to engage with the technology.”
Competitive tension, transparently
Beyond ease of use, Market Dojo gave Grocery Outlet something its old approach couldn’t: the ability to open up categories to a much wider vendor pool, compare offers side by side, and put measured, evidence-based pressure on incumbent suppliers. The platform became the engine room for a more structured, more defensible way of buying.
“One of the advantages of using Market Dojo is the transparency, as well as the ready ability to compare vendor offerings clearly… this is a very open platform that gathers a lot of information and puts the existing vendor under a great deal more pressure.”
That broader aperture changed the nature of the conversation with suppliers. Rather than focusing on driving down pricing with a single existing vendor and a couple of alternatives, the team could go out and assess the whole market of appropriate vendors, and walk away knowing no stone had been left unturned.
Better pricing, broader choice, zero noise
Generator installations: flexibility beyond expectations
One of the first tests was a generator installation package for stores affected by utility blackouts. The team took the whole bundle to market, equipment acquisition, engineering design, and installation, and the results re-set their expectations of what a competitive process could deliver.
“Across the board we found that we were able to obtain very advantageous pricing and a lot more flexibility in which vendors we were leveraging. The results of that, from a price standpoint, fell in line with expectations, yet the flexibility exceeded expectations.”
LED lighting: a dramatic drop against a known baseline
Next came LED lighting, an area where the team already knew its baseline pricing from long-standing supplier relationships. By taking it to market through Market Dojo and inviting a much larger pool of vendors to compete, Grocery Outlet did more than sharpen the existing deal: it uncovered a materially better one.
“By taking it out to market via Market Dojo, inviting a much larger group of vendors and really putting competitive pressure on them, we were able to dramatically lower our pricing, including with the existing vendor, who we ended up not continuing with.”
It is a small but telling outcome: the incumbent matched a lower price, but the process surfaced a new vendor who fit the brief even better. Without the platform widening the aperture, that option would never have surfaced.
A smooth road, start to finish
From the sponsor’s chair, Brian watched the programme through dashboards rather than day-to-day use. What mattered to him was the absence of friction: no IT escalations, no complaints from Finance or his own team, and results his leaders stayed focused on.
I think the service was great from the start, which just smooths the road all the way through. If there ever was a problem, and I never did hear about one, I imagine it got cured very quickly.
A partnership built to grow
With a capable platform in place, Grocery Outlet is positioned to scale its procurement discipline alongside its store expansion program, applying the same structured, competitive approach across more categories and deeper into the capital plan.
“I look forward to leveraging the platform in the future. And as we learn more about one another’s needs and capabilities, I’m sure that you’ll evolve accordingly.”
And would you recommend Market Dojo?
“Honestly, if it was a competitor to Grocery Outlet, I wouldn’t tell them about you! But if it was one of my peers in a different channel of retailing, looking for this type of help, I would certainly point them in the direction of Market Dojo. I have nothing but positive things to say about the experience.”
What stood out most, in the end, wasn’t the technology. It was the partnership behind it.
“You really do seem genuinely engaged in making sure that the customer experience is optimised. You’re sincere in your efforts to be the most effective partner you can be. I don’t perceive any lip service: the follow-ups have been great and the execution has been great.”