Supplier Negotiation Prep

What this does

Founders walk into supplier and co-packer renewal calls without a model of what ‘good’ looks like. They counter-offer at whatever feels reasonable, or they don’t counter at all — and last year’s deal quietly eats into margin again.

This file turns the conversation into numbers before you make the call. Pick the lines you spend the most on, enter today’s cost and your annual volume, then set three asks as a profit-impact percent: Target (your opening), Middle (a compromise), Highest (your walk-away). The file shows the price each ask lands at and the dollars it puts back per year. No COGS or margin math required.

Built originally ahead of a CPG client’s annual supplier and co-packer renewal cycle, where counter-offers were running on instinct. The one idea it exposes: the cut you negotiate is a profit-impact percent — every dollar you knock off an ingredient or a co-pack fee drops straight to profit, on every unit, all year. That is why you walk in with three numbers, not one. The mechanic works for any operator who can answer two questions per line: what do I pay today, and how much do I buy in a year?

Who this is for

CPG founders heading into a supplier or co-packer rate renewal. Typically negotiating on instinct or last year’s spend, with no target-rate model in front of them. Works for any operator who can answer two questions on the lines they spend the most on: what do I pay today, and how much do I buy in a year? No COGS required.

Inside the file

• Read Me tab — plain-language explainer of the model, the one idea (the cut you negotiate is a profit-impact %), a 5-step how-to, and an AI-agent handoff prompt
• Blend Supplier Negotiation tab — per top ingredient: current $/kg, annual volume, and current spend, then Target / Middle / Highest asks — each an editable Cut % that resolves to a new rate, annual spend, and dollars saved per year, with a TOTAL row
• Co-Packer Rate Negotiation tab — the same mechanic on your co-pack service lines, driven by annual units — each tier’s Cut % resolves to a new rate, annual spend, and the margin that rate cut hands back, with a TOTAL row

Preview

How to use it

1. In the Blend Supplier Negotiation tab, list the few ingredients you spend the most on. In the pink cells, enter your current $/kg and your annual volume (kg/yr).
2. Set your three asks in the pink Cut % cells: Target (your opening ask), Middle (a compromise you’d accept), Highest (the smallest win you’d still sign).
3. Read the New $/kg and Saved/yr columns. New $/kg is the number to ask for; Saved/yr is what that ask is worth over the year. The TOTAL row shows the whole conversation in one line.
4. Do the same on the Co-Packer Rate Negotiation tab for your co-pack service lines — the same moves, driven by annual units instead of kilos.
5. Walk into the renewal with three numbers per line: open at Target, fall back to Middle, and know the exact point (Highest) where you stop.