If you ask Ross Kellman why he and his partners started CORE Insights Group, the answer is simple. They saw a major shift in the industry that was draining operators of capabilities and cash while actually driving costs up – and they were determined to fix it. Ever since that day, they've been dead set on shifting the paradigm that puts the squeeze on operators and empowering them on the road to success.
Update, September 2026
This post was written in July 2023 and is kept below as it read on that date. Ross's argument has not changed: operators take the biggest risks, so the value from procurement should flow to them, and no one should profit from an operator's business without providing value. What has changed is how much of it CORE can now show.
The approach described below now runs through three distinct offerings from CORE Insights Group, a hospitality and foodservice procurement and supply-chain consulting firm. CLUB360 is free to join, with no membership fees, and its savings are built into the price at the time of purchase rather than paid as rebates. CORE360 is the fee-based managed procurement program: transparent fees, no markup on the spend CORE manages, 100% of rebates and incentives paid to the client, and every contract owned by the client. CORE Consulting takes on defined projects. Behind all three sit 200+ years of combined experience and $15+ billion in leveraged annualized purchase volume.
The customer stories promised at the end of this post are now documented on our success stories page. Among them: a lobster contract CORE renegotiated for Gecko's Hospitality Group that saves over $350,000 a year, and supplier contracts CORE renegotiated for Sonesta for $1M+ in savings with no loss of quality.
If food and supply costs are squeezing your margin, start with how CORE reduces restaurant COGS. It covers the purchasing-driven portion of cost of goods sold (COGS) and which offering fits which operator.
CORE's three founders – Ross and his partners AJ Kramer and Paul Davis – have a combined 100 years of procurement experience, particularly in the world of Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs). Ross says they created CORE for one reason: to address the huge imbalance of value GPOs were driving between operators, suppliers and manufacturers.
He says that GPOs were first created to give smaller companies the expertise and scale they needed, and drive value to them while taking a small part of the value they created. But over time, the GPOs and procurement companies were benefiting disproportionately without the operators seeing a net benefit. And the system was actually driving costs up.
"Value was supposed to be funneling towards operators, who took the biggest risks and needed it the most, but instead, they were getting squeezed," said Ross. He said GPOs were making all the money – and with none of the risk.
"We felt we needed to get back to the basics. So, we started CORE to make sure that operators were getting the value they rightfully deserve, and that no one was profiting from their business without providing value."
"At the heart of CORE is a company that wants to drive value to the companies that deserve it. With complete transparency. No side hustles, no dollars that get siphoned off on the side," said Ross. He wants to make sure that customers can decide who is driving value for them and compensate those companies fairly. "At CORE, we also deliver value at a fair rate, completely transparent, with no hidden agendas. And our sole focus is to advocate for our customers – they are the reason for what we do. We only want to help build the best programs possible for them."
The CORE approach is unique for four main reasons:
- We are an extension of your team. Our experienced professionals can fill in the gaps wherever you need support: from developing a strategy that gets results, to helping you execute it. No task is too big or too small. We will negotiate on your behalf, manage manufacturers and cost structures, and help you make the choices that lead your business to success.
- We make it simple to save. Not only do we provide access to quality programs, services and rebates, but we develop a plan that offers the best costs AND the best fit for your business. This levels the playing field so you can compete better in challenging times.
- We negotiate the right contracts FOR you. Our experts are pros at negotiating contracts specific to YOUR business, managing RFP processes and making sure every dollar works hard for you.
- Our strategies fit where your business is today. We develop programs and strategies that are tailored to your business and can adapt to its changing needs. We make sure our plans work across all of your business units – and we constantly assess and improve them so they always fit the situation your business is in today.
Over the coming weeks we'll explore further how CORE is working to shift the paradigm by bringing you stories from customers who have experienced it first-hand.
Contact us today if you want to see how we can help you get your procurement on track and set your business up for success.