HI {{first_name}} ,

Across Chicago, Cambridge/Boston, and New York, operators buying the same cut in the same city and month at similar volumes are paying very different prices.

But you can't negotiate a gap you can't see.

Every number below comes from real invoices inside Pancho's network. Same-city only. No surveys. No estimates.

Rising markets hit everyone. What changes operator to operator is how much of that increase your distributor passes through to you, and that gap runs from 10% to 49% depending on the cut. It's one of the few food-cost levers you can still control.

"I thought having a great relationship with my supplier meant they were fighting for my prices. I never stopped to check if that was actually true."

Maria Rondeau - Founder & Operator, Celeste Group, Cambridge, MA.

Chicago

🐔 Chicken, Whole WOG · per lbup to +49%
   
May low $1.70May high $2.47
Jan$1.70 – $1.83+8%
Feb$1.70 – $2.53+49%
Mar$1.70 – $2.53+49%
Apr$1.86 – $2.45+32%
May$1.70 – $2.47+46%

Buying at network-low vs high ≈ $3,300/year · at 100 lbs/week.

Cambridge / Boston

🐔 Chicken Wings, Jumbo · per lbup to +48%
   
May low $2.86May high $2.99
Jan$2.59 – $3.57+38%
Feb$2.59 – $3.59+39%
Mar$2.59 – $3.84+48%
Apr$2.70 – $3.02+12%
May$2.86 – $2.99+5%

Held above 38% for three months. Low-end operators saved ≈ $4,600/year · $0.89/lb avg, 100 lbs/week.

New York

🐔 Chicken Thigh, Boneless · per lb+30% (May)
   
May low $2.23May high $2.91
Feb †$2.14 – $2.40+12%
Mar †$2.44 – $2.88+18%
Apr †$2.34 – $2.57+10%
May$2.23 – $2.91+30%

May spread hit 30%. Network-low vs high ≈ $2,100/year · at 100 lbs/week.

† Feb–Apr partially estimated (NY/Chicago correlation R²=0.998). May fully observed — 2 distributors, 8 purchases.

Pancho tracks 100+ meat & poultry ingredients daily

Across these three cuts, buying at network-low instead of network-high is worth roughly

$10,000 / year

Illustrative, at 100 lbs/week per cut.

Three things you can do this week

1
 Pull your top 3 cuts by volume and check where your invoice price sits in your city's range above — low, middle, or high.
2
 Get a second quote. Use the network low as your opening number with a new distributor.
3
 Watch it month to month. Wings ran +48% in March but compressed to +5% by May — same cut, same city.

You can see the market.
You still can't see yourself.

The range above is the market. The number that matters is where your invoice lands inside it — the one you don't have access to yet. Go to hipancho.com to see how Pancho can improve your margins.

See how to improve your margins! →

Free to start · see where you stand in minutes

Real invoice data from New York · Chicago · Boston

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