This supply chain management analysis will define the aspects of centralized purchasing management of food products and the decentralized acquisition of inventory management for the Texas Roadhouse. The purchasing functions of food products should be centralized to manage the costs of supply chain orders on a national scale. These purchasing orders, however, can be decentralized through a competitive relationship with suppliers to lower prices for food products. These are the differing ways in which a centralized and decentralized supply chain management can efficiently control purchasing methodology and to obtain a variety of differing products from competitive food suppliers. This form of decentralized warehouse management provides the most …show more content…
In many cases, the regional managers would handle the ordering of specific foods for entrees, which defines the localized purchasing power for managers. However, Texas Roadhouse would create a more efficient and focused strategy by having a centralized purchasing center to ensure the quality and low pricing of these products. Texas Roadhouse could reduce manager labor, improve purchasing efficiency, and reduce costs for the entire organization through a centralized office. In this manner, Texas Roadhouse should have a centralized buyer office that handles all of the local restaurant purchases made to encourage lower prices and competitiveness in supply chain …show more content…
For instance, the restaurant chains offer fresh produce and entrees preparation as one of its most important ways of accessing vegetables, meats, and other products to bring a freshness to the meal. These aspects of supply chain management define the ability of buyers to rely on a variety of different wholesalers to bring these products at competitive prices: A significant majority of our menu offerings consist of made-from-scratch entree and side items that are based on proprietary recipes and prepared daily at each restaurant (Investor.texasroadhouse.com, 2015, para.6). This type of decentralized warehousing of food products is conducted through different food suppliers that offer competitive prices for the buyers. The food suppliers are typically Smithfield Foods and Tyson Foods, which allow a multiple supplier option in order to keep prices low, and also, to promote the freshness of the food that is being delivered: Such improved decision-making capabilities would, for example, led to improved responsiveness by the supplier to daily orders from the warehouse” (Chan et al, 2012, p.99). This method of diversified purchasing options allows buyers to get fresh foods and a more responsive supplier in this type of fresh food service model. Therefore, a decentralized and competitive supplier arrangement