Otter Inventory Savings

Overview

Otter has partnered with Foodbuy, the nation’s largest GPO, to help you earn cash-back and upfront savings on eligible purchases.

You don't need to change distributors or your daily operations. Just sign up, stick with your current supplier, and start earning!

The Power of a GPO
By pooling the buying power of thousands of restaurants, a GPO creates the leverage needed to negotiate enterprise-level discounts and rebates on your behalf. Through our partnership, we bring these massive savings directly to your independent restaurant.

A Transparent Partnership

There are no hidden fees or catches to join—you receive 100% of your earned rebates. Otter is paid directly by the GPO out of their share to help bring the program to more restaurants. It is a win-win: the more restaurants that purchase through the program, the better the negotiated discounts and savings become for everyone!

Included Food Distributors

Otter integrates with over 100+ regional distributors, along with the national distributors. Distributors can be easily searched for and include:

• Sysco
• Gordon
• US Foods
• PFG (Performance Food Group)
• Shamrock Foods

Types of Rebates Savings

Otter Rebates allows you to stack rebates with three different types of savings. Check out the different ways you can earn using Otter Rebates below.

Quick Reminder:
Discounts are upfront savings applied during your purchase, while rebates are cash-back earned after your purchase—and some items even qualify for both!

• Cash-back Rebates
  
  Rebates cash-back is a 1–3% of your purchase total earned in cash-back, which is received as a cash payout each month. 
  
  Understanding Your Savings

  Once you're signed up for Otter Inventory Savings, no extra steps needed from you to earn cash-back rebates. Just shop as you normally would and earn cash-back on eligible purchases.

  • Focus on Qualifying Items: You typically earn ~3% on specific items bought from distributors that carry a rebate. You can easily spot these eligible items at a glance in your Rebate dashboard, and our team is always here to help you identify the best products to maximize your payout.
  • Check Your Reports: Review your Opportunities and spend reports to track how your savings add up and find new ways to earn more.

   

  

  Displayed % possible to earn in cash-back in Otter Dashboard

  Item Rebate Qualifications
  Cash-back applies only to specific eligible products, not your entire cart. Check your Opportunities dashboard to find qualifying items, or email rebates@tryotter.com for a personalized savings review.

• Flash Discounts
  
  Enjoy automatic discounted pricing applied right at checkout when buying preferred ingredients on your food distributor's website.

  Unlock Exclusive Price Agreements

  Through your membership, you gain access to special Price Agreements that provide instant value to your restaurant's bottom line:

  • Instant Savings: Get an immediate 1–3% discount applied to your cart on eligible items.
  • No Waiting: These savings happen directly at checkout, lowering your upfront food costs immediately without having to wait for a monthly payout.

  

  Discount notification for item while on distributor site

• Opportunities 
  
  Opportunities are recommendations shown to make sure that you’re getting the best prices for ingredients. These are similar items that are potentially from another supplier, but are more affordable. This can also increase your qualifying total purchase spend, thereby increasing your cash-back rebates!

  

  Item Optimization shown in Rebates in Otter Dashboard

Signing up for Inventory Savings

Unlock enterprise-level savings normally reserved for massive national chains. Otter pools the purchasing power of thousands of independent restaurants so you can access the highest tier of rebates and discounts.

Before you can start saving, you’ll need to sign up, connect your food distributor, and add your banking information. 

Follow the steps below to sign up for Otter Inventory Savings.

• Step	Process	Image
  1	From the Otter Dashboard, click Apps > Inventory.
  2	Click [Start saving today].
  3	Confirm if you’re currently enrolled in another GPO program. Click [Continue]. Inventory Savings Enrollment Eligibility If you are currently in another GPO program, you will not be eligible to earn rebates through Otter.
  4	Confirm your company’s information to register and click [Confirm Info]
  5	Click [Connect] next to the corresponding food distributor you use/would like to use.
  6	Use food distributor credentials to sign in and connect for Rebates. Click on [Submit credentials]
  7	Agree to the terms to connect your distributor. Enter your full name to agree and click on [Add signature].
  8	Click [Finish] to complete the signup.
  9	Once successfully connected, you will receive a confirmation pop-up and a Connected confirmation will show next to the listed distributor.  You will have the option to add more by hitting  [Connect] on another distributor.  Click [Confirm]. Multiple distributors Earn savings across all your qualifying suppliers by linking multiple distributor accounts.
  10	On Inventory homepage, click [+Add banking account] in order to receive cash-back payouts.	Add bank account prompt Adding bank information window

Don't see your current distributor listed?
While connecting your distributor for Otter Rebates, if you don't see your current food distributor listed, you can click [+Add Distributor] to send a request for that distributor to be added in the future for Otter Rebates.

Adding Bank Information

After connecting food distributors during Rebates sign-up, click [+Add bank account] from the Inventory homepage to link a bank account for cash-back payouts. 

Manage your Rebates

Within the Inventory App in the Otter Dashboard, you can view:

• Rebate Opportunities 
• Total cash back earned for the year so far 
• Last month's earnings 
• Spend reports 
• Connected Distributors: This is where you can manage your distributors by adding or removing eligible partners 

Rebate Opportunities 

Recommendations are provided to help you secure the best possible pricing on ingredients you’re already buying. By choosing lower-cost, rebate-eligible items, you can both save money and increase your qualifying purchase total—ultimately boosting your cash-back rebate.

You will receive personalized suggestions based on your past purchasing history, highlighting items that offer better pricing and higher rebate potential. You can also browse a list of rebate-eligible alternatives that may deliver greater savings or a higher rebate compared to their current selections, with clear indicators of the potential savings for each switch. 

Learn more on how to use Otter Rebate Opportunities below: 

Step	Process	Image
1	Hit [Review] on the Rebate Opportunities tile
2	View the available list of recommended opportunities
3	By selecting an item, you can view detailed information about the recommended product. If you are interested in making the switch, download the product list and send it to your distributor. Your distributor will complete your purchase and increase your savings! Tip: If you are downloading multiple product lists, you can combine them into a single CSV.

 

Spend Reports

A spend report is a monthly summary that shows how much money you’ve spent on ingredients that qualify for rebates and the savings generated through the program. Each report is posted for every connected distributor and includes key information such as:

• Distributor name
• Report date
• Qualified spend
• Savings percentage
• Total savings ($)

You can filter the report by distributor or date to quickly find the details most relevant to your business.

Cash-back Payouts

Qualified purchases for cash-back will show in the Otter Dashboard once purchased items are confirmed as eligible by the food distributor partners (typically 30-90 days after purchase date). This time frame leaves allowance in case of returns, cancellations, exchanges, or changes to the order. 

Cash-back Payout Schedule

Confirmed earned cash-back is automatically applied monthly to the bank account connected for the Otter Rebates program. The first monthly rebate payment should be expected 90 days after the date of your first purchase after enrollment.

CloudKitchens Customers Rebates Payouts
For CloudKitchens customers, confirmed earned cash-back is automatically applied monthly to your CloudKitchens License Fee.

You will receive your first rebate 90 days after signing up, and once a month after that. 

FAQs

• From the Inventory homepage in the Otter Dashboard, under Distributors click [Manage]. Click the X next to a connected distributor that you wish you disconnect.

  

• A Rebates payout will show as:
  From: Otter
  Line Item (description): Foodbuy Credit

• While shopping, items that qualify for discounts will have an indicator shown (shown below).

  

  For earning cash-back, there may be exclusions set by the food distributors. Keep in mind that any items returned, cancelled, or refunded will not be eligible to earn rebates.

• It can take up to 90 days to process your purchase eligibility and funnel through our system from the food distributor partners. If you don’t see your purchase listed on the Rebates homepage after 90 days, reach out to our team here for help.

• No— You can connect as many food distributors you currently use from the list of distributors provided for Otter Rebates.
• After initial onboarding, you can add additional distributors at any time from the Rebates page by selecting “Manage” under the Distributors section.
• You keep all of your existing deals! Your current negotiated rates and rebates remain completely unchanged. However, if you ever want to explore even deeper discounts, our team can help you look into enrolling in our national program with select partners like Sysco.
• No. You keep all of your existing vendor relationships and continue working directly with your current distributor representatives. Our program simply runs in the background to capture additional savings, at no cost to you, without disrupting your day-to-day partnerships.

Updated July 13, 2026 10:46