The first website to compare the price of food and drink products for professional caterers has gone live with details of thousands of lines.

Improvethatprice.com, which launched earlier this year with comparisons on expensive catering equipment, now lists 5,261 food and drink products from across three wholesalers.

“Caterers spend thousands each month on food and drink suppliers, without really knowing if they are getting the cheapest price available. With Improvethatprice.com, they can find out what the cheapest place is for their unique selection of products,” said founder Yoni Cohen.

The food and drink prices are supplied by JJ Food Service, Nila and Simple Simon and Improvethatprice.com is in discussions with other suppliers who may share their pricing data in the future. Customers can add products to their basket and see how the total compares across the wholesalers before choosing which site to purchase from.

The site was developed using an algorithm to identify matching products by type and then matching exact products and potential substitutions by hand. And unlike most consumer price comparison sites, Improvethatprice.com includes own-label products. “This had to be done manually, as it would be extremely difficult to write an algorithm that could make those decisions,” Cohen said.

Cohen, founder of The Bread Shop, set up Improvethatprice.com with fellow caterers Faisal and Moin Haque, who own Wrap It Up, because they found it frustrating that they had to make notes to compare product prices.

The site also monitors thousands of catering equipment lines from 50 suppliers included 3663 and Brakes Catering Equipment.

Users can also read and leave reviews for products purchased.

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