Take the Trade Governance Maturity Assessment

Eight questions on how you run trade today. You’ll see where your operation sits, from Manual to Systematized to Connected, and what the next capability can open up.

Question 1 of 8 Your Profile

How Are Trade Dollars Typically Applied to Your Operator Sales?

Mostly through direct operator agreements

Mostly through distributor programs / earned income

Mostly through GPO or group purchasing agreements

Through multiple layers on the same sale (e.g., GPO + distributor program)

Varies by operator or segment

Did you know: Trade exposure tends to increase as more parties have a potential claim on the same operator purchase. When GPO agreements, distributor programs, and direct operator deals overlap, it becomes harder to determine who earned the operator and which trade payment is valid, making duplicate claims more likely.
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Question 2 of 8 Your Profile

Which Segments Represent a Meaningful Share of Your Foodservice Business?

Select all that apply.

Restaurants / commercial foodservice

K-12

Colleges & universities

Healthcare

Senior living

Business & industry

Hospitality / lodging

Recreation / entertainment

Government / corrections / military

Other non-commercial

Our business is broadly diversified across most of these segments

Did you know: Trade exposure varies significantly by foodservice segment. Segments with greater use of GPO contracts, distributor programs, and other layered incentives create more opportunities for multiple claims to be associated with the same operator purchase.
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Question 3 of 8

Once You Receive Distributor Claim Data, How Is It Processed?

Claims require significant manual processing before they can be reviewed or paid

Some sources are automated, but others still require manual processing

Most or all sources are processed systematically, but timing and operator-level detail vary

Every source is processed within 48 hours and matched to a verified operator location

Did you know: Duplicate claims are easiest to identify when every source is processed consistently and tied to the same operator location. Without that common operator-level view, overlapping claims can look like separate, valid transactions.
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Question 4 of 8

You Win a K-12 Bid. Can You Tell Which Schools Actually Bought, What They Bought, and How Much?

Not until we reconcile the program months later

For some distributors or parts of the business

We can see most of the volume, but not consistently by individual school

Yes, by individual school, product, and distributor across all sources

Did you know: Winning a bid doesn't guarantee the volume. Without visibility into purchases by individual school, manufacturers can't see which locations converted, which didn't, or whether awarded volume is tracking to expectations.
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Question 4 of 8

After You Launch a New Distributor Program, How Well Can You See Whether It Actually Drove Operator Purchases?

We typically assess results after the program ends

We can see overall volume trends, but it's difficult to tie them to the program

We can see which operators purchased, but not consistently by individual location

We can see which locations purchased, what they bought, and how volume changed during the program

Did you know: A lift in total volume doesn't tell you who bought. Location-level purchase data reveals which operators purchased, which didn't, and where expected volume is still being left on the table.
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Question 5 of 8

When Your Team Identifies Overlapping Claims on the Same Operator Purchase, What Happens Next?

We don't systematically identify overlapping claims today

We flag potential overlaps, but typically pay both claims

We short-pay when we can validate a duplicate, but building the supporting case takes significant effort

We short-pay confirmed duplicates with location-level evidence supporting the decision

Did you know: OPTRADE creates the location-level backup needed to support a short-pay. The system flags duplicates at the operator location, item, and distributor level, remembers every decision, and automatically rejects repeat combinations so teams only review new exceptions each cycle. With guidance from expert CSMs and best practices shared across the Tibersoft client community, manufacturers typically begin acting on confirmed duplicates within 60 to 90 days of go-live.
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Question 6 of 8

How Well Do You Know Your Actual Double-Dip Exposure?

We don't know and don't have a reliable way to measure it

We have an estimate based on audits, sampling, or historical experience

We actively identify double dips, but don't have a complete view across all claim sources

We know our actual double-dip rate across all sources and track it over time

Did you know: After 30 years of working with foodservice data across numerous sources, segments, and channels, Tibersoft has validated that up to 5% of trade spend in non-commercial segments can be recoverable. While each manufacturer's exposure is different, most assume some level of duplicate trade spend is simply a cost of doing business. It doesn't have to be. By comparing claims across sources at the individual operator location, OPTRADE makes overlapping claims visible so manufacturers can identify and act on recoverable trade spend.
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Question 7 of 8

Your Sales Team Is Preparing for a Business Review with a Regional Distributor. What Do They Know About the Operators Behind That Distributor's Volume?

Mostly how much product we shipped to the distributor

Which operator customers appear in billback and rebate claims and their total claimed volume

Which individual operator locations appear in those claims and what they purchased

Which locations purchased, what they bought, how purchasing is changing over time, and where there are opportunities to grow volume

Did you know: Billback and rebate claims contain valuable information about who is buying your products, but the data arrives from different sources and isn't designed for sales analysis. OPTRADE resolves those claims to more than 1.5 million curated foodservice locations, turning trade data into operator intelligence that helps sales teams understand who is buying, what they're buying, how purchasing is changing, and where to focus their efforts.
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Question 8 of 8

When It's Time to Renew or Invest in a Trade Program, What Tells You Whether It Earned the Investment?

Overall shipments or volume trends

Program spend compared with aggregate or historical volume

Operator purchase performance at the customer or contract level

Actual purchase performance by individual location, showing where the program produced volume and where it didn't

Did you know: Aggregated claim volume can tell you whether sales moved, but not where your trade investment actually performed. OPTRADE connects trade programs to purchases at the individual operator location, showing where expected volume materialized, where it didn't, and giving manufacturers better evidence for where to invest future trade dollars.
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Your Exposure Profile

Route

Segments

K-12

Exposure

What Trade Governance Looks Like

Trade Governance connects the investment to what happened at the operator, so manufacturers can protect the dollar, understand what it produced, and make the next investment with greater confidence.

Protect

Control the dollar before and after payment

Before you pay Overlapping claims on the same operator purchase are flagged before payment, so your team can act on them before the dollar goes out.

After you pay Paid claims are compared at the operator location. Recover overpayments with proof and stop the same claim from being paid twice going forward.

Perform

Direct the next dollar

Understand what worked See the relationship between programs, purchases, and operator-level volume, including which programs moved cases and which didn't.

Make the next investment better Design programs around the operators driving your volume, using what the last program did as your evidence.

What Becomes Possible

You've built discipline around trade in an industry that doesn't make it easy. For most manufacturers, the gap that remains is structural: programs, claims, and purchases each sit in a different record of the same sale.

Connect them at the operator location and you can answer the questions that matter: Are we paying the right commercial structure once? Did that investment influence the operator behavior we intended? Where should the next dollar go?

For 30 years, Tibersoft has been the data authority for food-away-from-home. OPTRADE resolves claims to more than 1.5 million curated foodservice locations and delivers them to your TPM within 48 business hours. See what your own claim data can show you.

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Explore our library of FAQs and best-practice guides to troubleshoot common issues and discover new ways to leverage Tibersoft for maximum impact.

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Trusted by Industry Leaders

For over 30 years, the world's leading foodservice manufacturers have relied on our experts to transform complex data into a clear competitive advantage

Take the Trade Governance Maturity Assessment

Your Exposure Profile

What Trade Governance Looks Like

Protect

Perform

What Becomes Possible

Find Quick Answers in Our Resource Hub

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