Professional Restaurant Buying Group Expands to Baltimore and Washington While Continuing National Growth

Washington DC (PRWEB) June 1, 2009 -- Continuing on its planned strategic membership expansion toward national presence, the 1900-member upstate NY based Dining Alliance has most recently begun member service operations in the Baltimore MD and Washington DC metro areas.

The 11-year-old Dining Alliance offers important economic benefits to its membership base by negotiating pricing contracts with local suppliers that allow small and medium independent and chain restaurant operators to enjoy the same aggressive pricing levels as larger, major chains. Further, the company invisibly monitors its member's cost plus pricing weekly to both audit for pricing errors and to claim nationally available manufacturer's product rebates. If errors or rebates are found, Dining Alliance completes a claim on behalf of the member and issues a check - automatically. "Typically, participating members can save between 15 and 25% on their food and supplies purchases, in many cases without breaking relationships or sacrificing quality," says John Davie, President of Dining Alliance. "Members are often surprised when they come on board and receive a rebate check out of the blue a few months later - members never question the power of the group after that first check," he adds.

Unlike typical group purchasing organizations, Dining Alliance forms a local Advisory Board of seasoned operators in each market charged with contract negotiation and quality control on behalf of the overall members within the community. This way, Dining Alliance is able to review several vendor bids and ultimately vote for the best candidate suppliers in a given product category. The local Advisory Board in Baltimore-Washington is formed of operators from a variety of hospitality backgrounds including specialty independents, private golf club operators and established caterers. When asked why he joined Dining Alliance as one of the founding members, Board member Monroe Zeffert of Zeffert & Gold Catering replies, "Dining Alliance is really a great thing for small and medium sized operators. The benefits and savings are endless and only expanding. We are very, very optimistic about the future." Monroe anticipates that he will save over $50,000 this year based on the Dining Alliance volume prices on meats, seafood, produce and even paper goods and small ware items. "In addition he will have the confidence of knowing that Dining Alliance is auditing his cost plus prices every week on every item," added Davie.

Dining Alliance has member service personnel placed throughout Upstate, NY and in Boston, MA, Baltimore/Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, PA, Atlanta, GA and Phoenix, Arizona.

Membership is free and benefits don't stop at product discounts and rebates. Dining Alliance also provides negotiated savings with suppliers of virtually everything from rubbish removal to payroll processing on a local and national level, extending many benefits to those operators who businesses fall outside the major metropolitan service areas.

Dining Alliance, Inc. has been providing members with advanced contract price management services since 1997. Local service providers are hand selected from a proven pool of applicants by an appointed board of local industry leaders. Manufacturer rebate claim fulfillment services, broadline consulting, existing vendor audits, credit card processing, trash removal consulting and discount programs on insurance, payroll and credit card processing are available to members nationally. www.diningalliance.com

Contact: Jennifer Brake, Jennifer (at) diningalliance (dot) com, 585-671-0650 x117

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