In food service, who updates the catalogue when something changes?

In food service, one task is never truly finished: keeping the catalogue up to date.

Thousands of SKUs, suppliers changing formulations, allergens to review, customer-specific pricing, seasonality introducing new products and phasing out old ones.

In many companies, this work is managed across several tools: the management system contains the basic data, the B2B portal has its own version, sales reps work from a PDF price list updated at the start of the season, and buyers receive technical sheets prepared on a case-by-case basis. Each team works with its own version, and keeping everything aligned requires constant coordination that is often difficult to sustain.

When a product changes ( a supplier modifies a recipe, an allergen is reviewed, a format is replaced ) that change needs to reach every channel consistently. With high volumes and large numbers of SKUs, managing this manually becomes increasingly complex.

Allergens: a real responsibility

Allergens are a legal requirement and a direct responsibility towards the end customer: the restaurateur choosing the ingredient, the chef preparing the dish, and the diner relying on the information received.

When allergen sheets are managed across different systems and updated at different times by different people, the risk of misalignment grows with catalogue complexity.

Seasonal change: when pressure is at its highest

Every change of season, every price list update and every trade fair brings a wave of changes: new SKUs to add, products to deactivate, prices to update and technical sheets to review.

At these times, priority tends to be given to what is most urgent, leaving everything else pending. A B2B portal showing last season’s prices, a sales rep proposing a product that is no longer available, a buyer receiving a sheet with outdated information: these are situations that create operational friction and, over time, erode trust.

Centralise to simplify

With the .one PIM Product Information Management solution, product information is managed in a single system (technical sheets, allergens, certifications, images and channel-specific prices) and distributed to every touchpoint: il the B2B portal, l’the sales reps’ app,buyer sheets and digital channels. When something changes, the update is made once and reaches every channel in a traceable way.

For a distributor, the result is less time spent coordinating updates between departments and greater confidence that the information being shared is always correct.