Tater Gems Potatoes
Simplot Traditional
District paid$41.36
Peer district$29.06
30% morePotential savings for this item alone: $3,400 per year.
Procurement intelligence for school food programs
Turn school food purchasing data into budget savings.
MealMetrix helps school districts identify missed USDA commodity value, benchmark prices against comparable districts using public records, and turn a district's own procurement data into specific, trackable savings actions.
The same food. Dramatically different prices.
California districts buying identical products from the same distributors can pay 13–30% more than neighboring districts without knowing it. These are real examples from public school food procurement records across the Greater Los Angeles MSA.
Tater Gems Potatoes
Lucky Charms Cereal Cup
General Mills
District paid$38.72
Peer district$30.85
20% morePotential savings for this item alone: $3,300 per year.
Corn Dog Jumbo Chicken WG
Don Lee Farms
District paid$74.62
Peer district$65.23
13% moreSame distributor, same product, different negotiated price.
A clear approach to district procurement decisions.
The goal is simple: help districts see where money is leaking out of food procurement and give staff a practical path to capture it.
1
Detect
Import invoices, bid tabs, commodity records, and entitlement data to identify unusual pricing and pass-through gaps.
2
Benchmark
Compare items against peer districts and purchasing channels so price gaps are grounded in real market data.
3
Capture
Translate findings into a district-specific action list: recover, renegotiate, reallocate, rebid, or monitor.
Four ways we create value.
Most districts do not need another dashboard. They need a clear answer to where savings are, who should act, and how much is actually captured.
Commodity value capture
We trace USDA commodity value through invoices, processor statements, and entitlement records to flag value that may be missing, delayed, depleted, or incorrectly applied.
Price benchmarking
We compare district prices to comparable peer purchases and identify items where pricing, pack size, vendor terms, or bid structure may create avoidable overspending.
Vendor negotiation support
We turn price gaps into evidence that staff can use in vendor conversations, contract renewals, cooperative purchasing decisions, and future RFPs.
Savings verification
We follow up after implementation to distinguish identified opportunities from savings actually captured in invoices and purchasing decisions.
Designed to be useful quickly.
A focused review can start with existing records: invoices, bid tabs, item masters, purchase orders, commodity balances, and vendor statements.
01
Define
We scope the engagement: district, school year, vendors, product categories, and the data handoff.
02
Measure
MealMetrix standardizes items, matches products, and measures current spend and commodity balances to set a baseline.
03
Analyze
We trace USDA pass-through value, benchmark prices against comparable peers, and isolate the root causes of overspending.
04
Improve
We prioritize findings by dollar value, confidence, ease of implementation, and timing, with clear owners and next steps.
05
Control
We verify that recommended actions translate into actual savings and corrected processes, and monitor them over time.
What districts receive.
Each engagement is organized around decisions, not just charts.
- A district-specific savings opportunity report
- Item-level price benchmarks against comparable purchases
- Commodity pass-through value diagnostics
- A prioritized action tracker with owners, timing, and estimated value
- A follow-up verification review to measure captured savings
Built by an economist focused on pricing and procurement.
Martin Hackmann, Ph.D. — Founder, MealMetrix
Martin founded MealMetrix after analyzing school food procurement data and finding large, persistent differences in what districts pay for comparable products. MealMetrix brings rigorous pricing analysis to a practical district workflow.
Martin is also an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, where his academic work studies pricing, market power, health economics, and public-sector markets.
University affiliation is listed for identification only. MealMetrix is an independent commercial service operated by Kenji Health, Inc. and is not endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles or the University of California. MealMetrix analyses draw on public records and each district's own data, using MealMetrix's own tools; they are independent of any university research tool or dataset.
Get in touch
Reach out directly with questions about district analysis, partnership opportunities, or collaboration.