Foodservice Industry Leaders, Technomic and Blacksmith Applications to Collaborate On a Multifaceted Foodservice Manufacturer Trade Spending Improvement Study

Chicago--(Business Wire)--May 2, 2005 – Technomic Inc., the leading provider of fact-based research and consulting for the foodservice industry announced today that it will collaborate with Blacksmith Applications, the leading provider of contract, trade, and deduction management solutions for the foodservice industry, to conduct an industry study to improve manufacturer trade spending effectiveness.

The objectives of the study will be to identify inefficiencies in trade spending processes and practices and to provide benchmarked insights and define best practices that will enable foodservice manufacturers to spend their promotional dollars most effectively.

“Manufacturer trade spending in foodservice continues to increase in cost and complexity, and for most manufacturers, has now become the second largest P&L line item after cost of goods,” said Gary Karp, Vice President, Technomic, Inc. “Two areas we see being impacted the most by improved trade spending practices and that will gain the widest adoption are conditional shelter rates and profit-based decisions criteria for program offerings. Given the simultaneous double-whammy of distributor consolidation and national account share growth, manufacturers are realizing they can no longer afford to pay out the same way in the future as they have in the past. Along with that, we see manufacturers embracing new, automated tools and processes that will allow them to quickly and accurately evaluate the potential profitability of new business proposals.”

“Challenged with flat industry growth and mired in a war to ‘take share’ across most all categories, manufacturers are pursuing a wide range of strategies and tactics to optimize their trade dollars,” said Paul Wietecha, President, Blacksmith Applications. “In order for manufacturers to realize the most bang for their bucks, it’s imperative that they understand where the breakdowns in the contract management and trade spending processes occur, where the greatest inefficiencies lie, and what steps they can take to improve their spending practices to grow their company most profitably.

Working together, Technomic and Blacksmith Applications can provide manufacturers with meaningful benchmarks, effective best practices, process enhancements and standardized solutions that will provide them the highest return on investment for all operator and distributor trade spending.

The study will be conducted on a proprietary multi-client participation basis, and will be limited to no more than 15 foodservice manufacturers. All participant information and benchmarking data will be handled in a manner to assure confidentiality.

For more information please contact Gary Karp, Vice President, Technomic Inc. at 312-876-0004 extension 239 (gkarp@technomic.com), or Bob LeBlanc, Executive Vice President, Blacksmith Applications 312-981-6382 (rleblanc@bigredflame.com).

About Technomic, Inc.

Technomic Inc. provides food and foodservice clients with the research, insights and strategic consulting support they need to enhance their business strategies, decisions and results. Its services include category and channel analyses, customer satisfaction studies, opportunity assessments, benchmarking programs and brand equity enhancement. Technomic offers clients proprietary management consulting solutions and shared-cost, common-interest research.

About Blacksmith Applications

Blacksmith Applications is the leading provider of contract, trade, and deduction management solutions for the foodservice industry. The company’s solutions enable foodservice manufacturers to more effectively and profitably manage national account contracts, operator deals, distributor trade programs, and deductions. Blacksmith helps eliminate expensive, inefficient processes and reduce contract and deduction management costs, complexities, and overspending. The results are increased speed to market, improved visibility into customer and product performance, and controlled trade spending – all enabling increased revenue, more strategic and profitable decision making, the appropriate deployment of resources at all levels of sales and marketing, and greater overall profitability. Blacksmith Applications is headquartered in Lawrence, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.blacksmithapps.com or call 1-866-572-9299.

Company Contacts:

Chris Urban

Director, Knowledge Center

Technomic, Inc.

(312) 876-0004, ext 229