In the RS 2025 Indirect Procurement Report, a survey of 426 procurement people in the UK and Ireland, the average supplier count went up from 75 to 92 in one year. Half of them said they plan to cut that number.
Restaurant chain merchandise is a good place to start. Many chains buy crew shirts from one vendor and giveaways from another, then pay a third to store and ship it. This checklist shows how to compare custom apparel and promotional products partners when you want one partner for every location, including the ones outside the US.
Why the comparison is harder for a chain
For a chain, the partner has to get the same polo with the same logo to every store, and keep doing that every month as crews turn over.
So promotional products procurement for a chain is mostly a test of the vendor's process. A low price per shirt does not help much if the shirts go to the wrong address. We wrote about the store-level side of this in restaurant chain uniforms: what breaks across many locations. This post is the procurement side: how to pick the partner.
The checklist
- Who decorates the product? Ask whether screen printing, embroidery and engraving happen in the vendor's own building or go out to subcontractors. Every handoff is one more place where a logo can change.
- Can one vendor cover the whole program? Crew uniforms, corporate apparel for managers, and custom branded products for local events should come from one catalog with one set of artwork on file.
- How do locations order? Look for a per-location store with an approved catalog. If your managers send in sizes on a spreadsheet, somebody at corporate will spend days cleaning it up.
- Where does the product ship? Multi-location distribution should mean the right quantity goes to each address directly. If everything ships to headquarters first, you pay to ship it twice.
- Can they ship outside the US? For a chain with stores in other countries, settle global fulfillment on the first call.
- What does the stock report show? Ask for stock levels by SKU and low-stock alerts, so you place a reorder before a store runs out.
- What is the turnaround, and when does it start? Get the standard time and the rush time in writing, and ask whether the time starts at the order or at the payment.
- How is the price built? You want per-unit pricing in every quote, artwork and rush fees stated before you approve, and a rate based on your projected annual volume.
Questions to ask on the first call
- Can I see a proof before every production run?
- What happens when our logo or brand guide changes?
- Who is my one point of contact?
- How do new locations get their first order?
- Which countries can you ship to, and how do I track each box?
Red flags
A vendor that cannot say who does the decoration probably sends it out. A quote with no per-unit breakdown makes it hard to compare two bids. A store that lets a manager upload their own logo will break branding consistency across locations within a season.
That consistency matters at the guest's side of the counter. In a PPAI consumer study, nine in 10 people correctly recalled the branding on a promotional product when given options, and 83 percent said they are more likely to do business with brands that gave them one. If the logo on the shirt is wrong, guests remember the wrong logo.
Jackets get seen the most. The ASI 2026 Ad Impressions Study puts a promotional jacket at around 9,000 brand impressions over its life, more than any other category in the research.
How The Swan Brothers answers the checklist
The Swan Brothers sources from a wholesale catalog of 20+ brands and decorates in-house in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, with screen printing, embroidery, digital printing and laser engraving. Weekly capacity is 40,000+ units. Production-ready artwork setup is included at no charge, and every design goes out as a proof before production.
Location managers order from a free online store that shows only the items your brand team approved. Our 3PL fulfillment ships the right quantities to each address with tracking and delivery confirmation, and inventory reports show stock by SKU. The Swan Brothers ships worldwide, to all 50 states and internationally.
Bulk orders have a standard turnaround of under two weeks from payment, with rush in as few as 5 business days for a quoted rush fee. Chains with high-volume ongoing programs get negotiated rates based on projected annual volume. The restaurant chains page has more on products and pricing.
Your next step
Put the eight checklist items in a sheet and send it to every vendor on your list, The Swan Brothers included. Then book a call and bring three things: your logo files, your brand guide, and your list of locations with addresses, the international ones too. We will go through the checklist with you on that call and set out per-unit pricing for your program.