Turn school food purchasing data into budget savings.
Thorsight 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 evidence behind the approach.
Districts buying identical products can pay very different prices. That finding comes out of ongoing price-transparency research on California school food procurement published by the School Food Policy Lab, which benchmarks what districts across the state actually pay for matched products.
The Lab matches products across districts using semantic matching plus rule-based filters, then measures price differentials at the product, food-group, and district level. Its matching pipeline covers close to 95% of district spending.
Figures are published by the School Food Policy Lab, a research initiative led by economists at UCLA. Thorsight applies the same benchmarking logic to a single district's own records; district-level results depend on that district's data, contracts, and commodity balances.
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.
Detect
Import invoices, bid tabs, commodity records, and entitlement data to identify unusual pricing and pass-through gaps.
Benchmark
Compare items against peer districts and purchasing channels so price gaps are grounded in real market data.
Capture
Translate findings into a district-specific action list: recover, renegotiate, reallocate, rebid, or monitor.
Four ways the analysis helps.
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.
Define
We scope the review: district, school year, vendors, product categories, and the data handoff.
Measure
Thorsight standardizes items, matches products, and measures current spend and commodity balances to set a baseline.
Analyze
We trace USDA pass-through value, benchmark prices against comparable peers, and isolate the root causes of overspending.
Improve
We prioritize findings by dollar value, confidence, ease of implementation, and timing, with clear owners and next steps.
Control
We verify that recommended actions translate into actual savings and corrected processes, and monitor them over time.
What districts receive.
Each review 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
Who does the analysis.
The work is done by an economist who studies pricing and procurement, not by a sales team.
Martin Hackmann, Ph.D.
Martin began the Thorsight work after analyzing school food procurement data and finding large, persistent differences in what districts pay for comparable products. The aim is to bring rigorous pricing analysis into a practical district workflow.
Martin is 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.
Get in touch
Reach out directly with questions about district analysis, partnership opportunities, or collaboration.