Customer Login Area

The leading provider of supply chain management and intelligence solutions to the food industry

Improving Processes Around Deviated Billbacks and Rebate Claims

SAN MATEO, CA., - April 2, 2008

Instill Corporation ("Instill"), a leading provider of spend intelligence services and solutions for the foodservice industry, today announced that Schwan's Food Service, Inc. has selected its market leading Instill Trade Spend Data Management solution to improve processes around deviated billbacks from distributors and operator rebate claims.

"Instill will play a key role in our company-wide initiative around trade spend management," said Lil Schroeder, vice president of operations for Schwan's Food Service, Inc. "We were looking for a partner with proven success specifically in the complex foodservice market. The standardized information provided by Instill will allow us to improve management visibility into our data and processes tied to deviated billback and operator rebate claims."

Instill Trade Spend Data Management automates and standardizes distributor-reported trade program claims and sales performance data, dramatically reducing claim payment cycles, eliminating inaccurate or untimely payments and aligning incentives and commissions with performance.

"Our trade spend expenditures continue to grow and represent a significant investment," according to Brian Rademacher, CFO, Schwan's Food Service, Inc. "We see strong value in being able to gain greater visibility into those expenditures and increase efficiencies by reducing data processing costs, eliminating inaccurate payments and reducing the cost of resolving disputed deductions."

"In the foodservice industry, trade spend dollars are second only to COGS on a company's P&L. Given today's economic environment, any prudent manufacturer would do well to pay close attention to all aspects of their trade spend programs," commented Gary Karp, executive vice president with Technomic.

"Technomic estimates $18 billion is spent each year on trade spend. Given the significant amount of money being invested, it is critical that manufacturers have clear visibility of their trade spend dollars," commented Mike DeVries, Instill Corporation CEO. "It is a privilege to work with market leading manufacturers like Schwan's Food Service, Inc. and play an important strategic role in delivering against the company's initiatives to improve its trade spend programs."

Instill's proven suite of solutions - Spend Intelligence for Operators and Trade Spend Intelligence for Manufacturers - provide foodservice industry constituents the visibility they need to manage and grow their businesses. The Trade Spend Intelligence Suite for Manufacturers optimizes sales-related and trade spend processes and provides greater visibility into sales activity and customer purchase behavior to help grow new revenue opportunities.