Do you have any tips for amending my current beverage contract or negotiating a new one?
- Identify what nutritional and financial goals you want to achieve and which terms are most important in order to achieve them.
- Pay close attention to what is most important to you and your vendor. (Remember that while bottlers will work with you to amend your contract to accelerate implementation of the Alliance School Beverage Guidelines, they will do so only if terms can be agreed upon that are financially fair for both you and them.)
- You may find more points of convergence with your vendor than you first thought. For example, your mutual goals may be to increase sales of lower calorie and nutritious beverages, while maintaining or improving current revenues. Since the revenue generated from beverage sales through a la carte, vending, school stores, etc. is used to support school activities and organizations, it is likely an important objective for a district. Thus, both you and your bottler have the goal that students will purchase beverages that align with the Guidelines. This could inform discussions including, but not limited to, pricing (studies show that price influences student choice), location, timing (when beverages are offered for sale) and educational materials (placing nutritional information at point of purchase).
These tips should serve as general advice on amending, renewing or executing contracts that implement the Alliance’s School Beverage Guidelines. They are not offered or intended as legal advice. Please consult an attorney for legal advice specific to your contract negotiations.
