How Aramark Doubled Small Supplier Engagement Results with Supplier.io

As a global leader in food, facilities, and uniform services, Aramark serves a broad range of industries, from stadiums and universities to hospitals, national parks, and federal agencies. In these environments, community engagement is critical to winning new business and maintaining client loyalty. Whether serving students, patients, fans, or government partners, Aramark’s impact reaches into the heart of the communities it operates in.

That’s why small supplier sourcing has become a cornerstone of Aramark’s business strategy. “We’re in every community across the country,” said Natily Santos, Vice President of Responsible Sourcing, in a recent webinar. “Supporting local and small businesses isn’t just a goal, it’s a business imperative and a reflection of the values our clients care about deeply.”

But over a decade ago, Aramark’s ability to track and engage small businesses was limited. Today, thanks to Supplier.io, it operates one of the most respected small supplier engagement programs in the country.

Before Supplier.io: limited tags, missing insights

Like many organizations early in their inclusive sourcing journey, Aramark initially tracked diverse suppliers with a basic system. “We had a tag for diverse and a tag for women,” said Santos. “We worked with small businesses, but we weren’t monitoring that in any centralized or consistent way.”

That lack of visibility became a challenge as clients, especially in regulated and community-focused sectors, began demanding more detailed reporting. “They wanted to know the certifications, the impact, and how we were representing the communities we serve,” Santos added.

The shift: Supplier.io brings visibility, alignment, and impact

Bringing on Supplier.io transformed Aramark’s program. “I needed a solution that could make my life easier, improve our ability to report and tell stories, and integrate into our current practices,” said Santos. “Supplier.io absolutely met all three.”

With Supplier.io’s Supplier Intelligence Platform, Aramark could immediately begin tracking small businesses aligned with SBA definitions. As a result, the organization doubled its supplier engagement results overnight, simply by having visibility into the small businesses it was already working with.

Small business sourcing made easier for the entire team

“Supplier.io also made it easier to source with small suppliers by engaging the broader procurement team,” said Santos. “Now anyone in sourcing can search, identify, and vet qualified small suppliers quickly. It’s not siloed, it’s integrated.”

With access to over 11 million suppliers and 350 million insights, Aramark could surface small, local businesses faster and uncover sourcing gaps with updated data. “It’s helped our teams proactively find new partners, build resilience, and strengthen our supply chain,” Santos added.

The game changer: economic impact

One of the most important capabilities Supplier.io enabled was the ability to measure and report on economic impact. “Our clients care about the ‘so what,’” said Santos. “It’s not just how much we’re spending, but how that spend supports jobs and communities.”

With Supplier.io’s tools, Aramark can now quantify and communicate the ripple effects of its small business sourcing strategy, from local job creation to strengthened community infrastructure. “That’s the game changer,” Santos emphasized. “It turns procurement data into community value.”

In addition to better supporting clients, translating spend data to intuitive economic impact results helped Natily get more support for her own internal team. “Economic impact data was a critical game changer in how I was able to continue to build up my team and make sure that we can maintain and advance progress.” Said Santos. “It helped me fight for resources and budgeting to make sure that when we have impactful numbers that we maintain, because that’s something important to our client base.”

A roadmap for small supplier success

Aramark’s journey is proof that small supplier engagement doesn’t require starting from scratch, but it does require smarter tools and reliable data. “You don’t need to have it all figured out,” said Santos. “But you do need the right partner.”

With Supplier.io, Aramark transformed small business sourcing into a competitive advantage that delivers business value, meets client expectations, and makes a measurable difference in the communities they serve.ronment, the teams that win aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets or the most recognizable supplier names—they’re the ones that know how to use data to build a balanced roster of reliable small business suppliers. The Moneyball approach proves that with the right data, you can uncover untapped small suppliers and create a sourcing strategy that delivers both performance and resilience.