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How Yabon divided its RFQ time by 10
One sole buyer. A full commodity portfolio (fruits, chocolate, sugar). And sourcing transformed in less than a year.
4h
vs 1 week
To finalize a single RFQ - a ×10 gain on the funnel phase.
The client at a glance
Client
Yabon - French food & beverage manufacturer (Normandy)
Size
1 buyer / Entire purchasing scope
Commodities
Fruits (cherry, sour cherry, blackcurrant, apricot, raspberry), chocolate & cocoa, sugar
Client since
September 2025 / 51 quotes launched
User
Nadia Blatter - Head of Raw Materials Purchasing
“
It's as if I were two people.
Nadia Blatter
Head of Raw Materials Purchasing, Yabon
”
01
-
The context
One buyer, a full portfolio
Yabon is a French food & beverage manufacturer from Normandy. Nadia Blatter handles every raw material on her own: fruits, chocolate and cocoa powder, sugar, every reference that goes into production. This setup is classic in food & beverage SMEs: a single person to cover all sourcing, negotiate annual contracts, monitor markets, and absorb shortages or seasonal peaks. Time is the first limiting factor, well before budget.
Before Livequote: artisanal, time-consuming sourcing
Manual research
Browsing the internal database, then Internet searches to identify potential suppliers.
10 suppliers contacted per RFQ
A ceiling imposed by available time, not by relevance.
Comparison tables built by hand
Re-typing emailed quotes into Excel to make them comparable for negotiation.
Sourcing via trade shows
CFIA, SIAL and others, essential for new contacts, but occasional and slow.
“
When we couldn't find many suppliers, we got stuck on pricing. With Livequote, we unlocked a much deeper discussion because there's more competition.
Nadia Blatter
Head of Raw Materials Purchasing, Yabon
”
02
-
The solution
Express onboarding using the existing Excel catalog
Livequote adoption at Yabon was instant. Nadia already had an Excel file listing her commodities: that file was used to import the entire catalog in one go. No double entry, no heavy training, the experience was logical and intuitive.
51
quotes launched
×8
suppliers per RFQ (10 → 80)
1
user / Entire purchasing scope
Three combined uses
Multi-commodity quotes
Fruits (cherry, sour cherry, blackcurrant, apricot, raspberry, blueberry), chocolate and cocoa powder, sugar.
Market monitoring
Sugar and cocoa price curves to inform contract decisions.
Built-in Excel export
Direct export of received quotes into internal negotiation spreadsheets.
03
-
The results
Three concrete, measurable results
Result #1
~€30,000
Savings achieved in less than a year
Since the September start, Yabon has identified ~€30,000 in direct savings via Livequote, including ~€12,000 on 4 truckloads of sour cherry (~80 tonnes, −€0.15/kg), ~€4,000 on K6 blackcurrant and ~€6,000 projected on an ongoing RFQ with 7 competing suppliers. The 2026 Livequote subscription is already fully paid back.
Result #2
×8
A supplier panel multiplied by 8
Before Livequote, Nadia contacted around 10 suppliers per RFQ, a ceiling imposed by time. With Livequote, that number jumps to 80 suppliers per RFQ in a few clicks. More competition, more negotiation leverage. Several newly identified suppliers now work directly with Yabon.
Result #3
Contract lever
Market monitoring becomes a negotiation argument
On sugar and cocoa, Nadia uses Livequote market curves daily. The benefit materialized during the 2026 contract negotiation, where market data helped reopen a discussion that seemed closed.
“
Having the quotes alongside let me push the discussion much further, when it was a bit closed.
Nadia Blatter
On the 2026 sugar contract negotiation
”
04
-
The time question
Time gain: ×10 on the critical phase
This is the most striking effect at Yabon. On the RFQ funnel phase (gathering quotes, structuring data, building the comparison) processing time dropped from a full week to 4 hours.
“
It's as if I were two people.
Nadia Blatter
Head of Raw Materials Purchasing, Yabon
”
For a lean purchasing function, Livequote doesn't just optimize daily work: it multiplies work capacity. The time freed from funnel mechanics is reinvested where the buyer truly creates value (negotiation, supplier relationships, strategy). Over a year, across 51 quotes launched, the cumulative time saved represents several hundred hours, the equivalent of a part-time recovered for higher-value tasks.
Livequote multiplies work capacity.
Freed time is reinvested where the buyer creates value: negotiation, supplier relationships, strategy.
What Livequote changed at Yabon
Before
With Livequote
~10 suppliers contacted per RFQ
~80 suppliers contacted per RFQ (×8)
1 week to finalize an RFQ
4 hours to finalize an RFQ (×10 faster)
Manual Internet search + internal database
Automated sourcing on +3,100 certified European suppliers
Manual re-entry of quotes into Excel
Direct Excel export of received quotes
Contract discussions sometimes closed (sugar, cocoa)
Livequote market data = lever to reopen the discussion
ROI hard to quantify
~€30,000 saved in <1 year / subscription paid back over 2 years
What she says
“
It's as if I were two people.
Nadia Blatter
Head of Raw Materials Purchasing, Yabon
”
“
It's a quick help for research. It's fast, easy, and you get the right info. Plenty of information, plenty of monitoring. You have everything you need to do the job well.
Nadia Blatter
Head of Raw Materials Purchasing, Yabon
”
3 takeaways for food & beverage buyers
01
For a lean purchasing function, Livequote multiplies work capacity
It's not an optimization tool, it's a force multiplier for small teams.
02
ROI is measurable and fast
At Yabon, ~€30,000 saved in less than a year: subscription paid back over two years.
03
Market curves become a tangible negotiation argument
Not a gimmick, a concrete lever on annual contracts (sugar, cocoa).
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.
+3,100 certified European suppliers
2-week onboarding
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