A wonderfully designed menu with a world-class chef is no good to a hospitality operation without a reliable supplier who can provide the exact products needed at a specific quality year-round. A lack of attention in selecting suppliers can quickly result in a foodservice operation becoming part of the unbelievably high estimated restaurant failure statistic. "It is said that one in three restaurants fail in their first year. Although location is still considered the number one predictor of success, proper product selection is not far behind" (Feinstein 29). Because of this, researching and selecting dependable suppliers should be one of the most important jobs for a hospitality establishment. Now that we know of its importance, I am going to focus how exactly a foodservice establishment goes about the selection process. For locating an optimal supplier there are two different buying plans that the operation can use: "Bid buying" and "one-stop shopping." Each unique plan has its advantages and disadvantages depending on the size and type of operation.
             Procurement in the hospitality industry begins with the buyer determining the types of products that it needs to operate successfully (Feinstein 2). A restaurant can do this by preparing specifications for each item used in the menu. These specifications include detailed information about the product itself, and may include certain supplier services desired (Feinstein 149). The establishment must then locate the supplier(s) who can best fulfill their needs (Feinstein 2). One way a hospitality operation can do this is called "one-stop shopping." Using this method the buyer, or restaurant, selects one or more suppliers first, and they work together to meet the buyer's needs. To clarify, "one-stop shopping does not mean only using one supplier; it means that the buyer selects the supplie
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