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How Cherry Rocher opened its sourcing to all of Europe
A 50-person food & beverage SME. A 2-person purchasing team. 500 tonnes of fruit per year. And sourcing that went European, in just a few months.
€5/kg
vs €7.20/kg
The gap identified on apricot via a single LiveQuote quote - ~€2,160 potential savings on 1.5 tonne.
The client at a glance
Client
Cherry Rocher - French distiller & confectioner (Saône-et-Loire)
Size
~50 employees / 2-person purchasing team
Volume
~500 tonnes of fruit per year
Commodities
Raspberries, strawberries, raisins, dried apricots, blackcurrants
Users
Isabelle & Clara - Buyers
“
One tool, instant access to hundreds of suppliers, and a fast ROI. I strongly recommend LiveQuote.
Isabelle Perrier
Buyer, Cherry Rocher
”
01
-
The context
A French SME facing a European market
Cherry Rocher is a French family business specialized in liqueurs, syrups and fruit preparations. With around 50 employees and a purchasing team of only two people, the company processes nearly 500 tonnes of fruit per year. This mid-size position creates a classic tension: volumes large enough to matter on the European market, but a team too small to fully tap into that potential.
Before Livequote: sourcing constrained by time
Historical suppliers only
On average 6 per commodity, sometimes 1 or 2 on strategic references.
Manual sourcing
Searching through past orders, on Google, or via hand-built mailing lists.
Zero market price visibility
Only internal history extracted from the ERP, with no external benchmark.
Supplier dependency
Negotiations became difficult whenever only one or two contacts existed on a commodity.
“
Market price knowledge was only communicated by historical suppliers. What was really hard was the lack of time for negotiation and for finding new partners.
Isabelle Perrier
Buyer, Cherry Rocher
”
02
-
The solution
Fast onboarding, immediately operational
Livequote was rolled out at Cherry Rocher with near-instant adoption. No technical hurdle, no heavy training: the team was operational from the very first quotes.
~20
quotes launched
2
active users
5+
commodity families
Three combined uses
Commodity quotes
Raspberries, strawberries, raisins, dried apricots, blackcurrants.
New supplier discovery
Geographic expansion beyond historical partners.
Market monitoring
Strawberry and raspberry price curves to inform purchasing decisions.
03
-
The results
Four concrete, measurable results
Result #1
−€2.20/kg
A significant price gap identified on apricot
A supplier identified via Livequote priced an offer at €5/kg, against a target price of €7.20/kg. Quality validation via sample is ongoing, but the magnitude shows the power of opening up sourcing: without Livequote, this supplier would never have been identified.
Result #2
Permanent benchmark
An immediate negotiation lever
Beyond direct savings, Livequote acts as a permanent market benchmark. Incoming quotes let Cherry Rocher challenge historical suppliers with objective data.
Result #3
Multi-origin
Real geographic opening
On raisins, the purchasing team was almost exclusively focused on Turkey. Livequote unlocked quotes from several other origins in a few days, broadening the supplier pool and securing supply against client demands for bi-sourcing and tri-sourcing.
Result #4
Sales tool
A client-facing tool
Livequote market data is also used by Cherry Rocher's sales team with their own end clients, to justify price positioning and demonstrate competitiveness.
“
It's a real negotiation lever to challenge suppliers. You walk into negotiations with much more confidence and ammunition.
Isabelle Perrier
Buyer, Cherry Rocher
”
04
-
The time question
A shift in where the value lies
On the time question, Cherry Rocher's honest take is revealing: Livequote doesn't strictly save time, it enables work that wasn't being done before.
“
I don't think we saved time. What we mostly gained is enrichment: information, new partners. We take time we weren't taking before, even though it's strategic for us.
Isabelle Perrier
Buyer, Cherry Rocher
”
This framing is essential for food & beverage SMEs. In a 2-person purchasing team handling 500 tonnes of commodities per year, Livequote doesn't replace existing tasks: it makes possible strategic ground-work (market intelligence, active sourcing, multi-origin de-risking) that structurally didn't fit into a buyer's day.
The ROI isn't only financial.
It's also organizational: the purchasing function moves up a tier.
What Livequote changed at Cherry Rocher
Before
With Livequote
6 suppliers on average per commodity, sometimes just 1
Access to hundreds of European suppliers in a few clicks
Manual sourcing: emails, Google, past orders
Quotes launched in minutes on a single platform
Zero visibility on market prices
Real-time price curves + benchmark on every quote
Heavy dependency on historical suppliers
Objective negotiation lever + bi/tri-sourcing enabled
No time for market intelligence
Market intelligence built into the daily flow
What they say
“
One tool, instant access to hundreds of suppliers, and a fast ROI. I strongly recommend LiveQuote.
Isabelle Perrier
Buyer, Cherry Rocher
”
“
It's a tool that really simplifies sourcing, broadens the geographic scope and helps find new suppliers, especially when you don't have contacts. You instantly feel more European.
Clara
Buyer, Cherry Rocher
”
3 takeaways for food & beverage buyers
01
ROI isn't just unit savings
It includes negotiation power, supply chain resilience, and the ability to meet client requirements for bi/tri-sourcing.
02
A 50-person SME can source like a large group
Size is no longer a barrier to accessing the European market.
03
The tool unlocks strategic time for active sourcing and intelligence
Tasks structurally absent from an SME buyer's day-to-day.
Want to see what Livequote can do for you?
Book a personalized demo - 15 minutes to understand how the tool fits your commodities and volumes.
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