ABL Management Selects Instill to Analyze System-Wide Food Spend; Instill Purchase Insight Solution to Improve Supply Chain Visibility.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 17, 2004

Instill(R) Corporation, a leading provider of supply chain information solutions, today announced that ABL Management, a professional food service management organization, has selected Instill Purchase Insight(SM) Solution to provide system-wide visibility into its purchasing spend and identify cost savings opportunities for its locations in 24 states.

Prior to the service agreement with Instill, ABL Management's system for collecting and analyzing data included manual processes using paper-based reports. Instill Purchase Insight streamlines the process and electronically collects, aggregates, and transforms purchasing data into accessible information. The enhanced data from Purchase Insight allows greater and more accurate visibility leading to significant food cost savings.

ABL Management has selected a customized set of business intelligence tools from Purchase Insight that include the Purchase Reporter, Invoice Viewer, and Contract Manager modules. The modules enable ABL Management to take full advantage of SKU consolidation, monitor contract compliance and price variance, and improve contract negotiations. In addition, ABL Management is utilizing Instill's Value Acceleration Services, a consultative service in which Instill taps its extensive professional experience in the foodservice industry to provide an independent perspective into the customer's purchasing behavior based on the information that it is supplying.

"ABL Management is planning ahead for continued growth by implementing proven supply chain information systems and processes. Instill Purchase Insight provides us with opportunities in SKU consolidation and product rationalization that will kick-start our program," said Cathy Keith, purchasing director, ABL Management. "As experts in the field, Instill provides ABL Management with the information we need to make more informed decisions that will improve our bottom line and make us even more competitive in the marketplace."

Having been focused exclusively on technology for the foodservice industry for over ten years, Instill gets its systems up and running quickly. Consequently customers do not have to wait long to see the results. "We identified cost savings equivalent to 50% of the cost of Instill's system within one month of receiving Instill's information. We can already see that our Instill investment will pay out many times over within our first year of using it," said John Appleton, president and CEO of ABL Management.

"We were proud to get ABL Management fully up and running with valuable purchasing data in less than three months which enabled them to begin saving money almost immediately." said Anthony Wilson, president and CEO of Instill. "We are pleased to be working with ABL Management to help them improve their bottom line and to provide more value to their client base."

About Instill

Founded in 1993, Instill provides supply chain information solutions to the restaurant, hospitality, and foodservice manufacturer markets. Using hosted technology, Instill solutions provide the supply chain visibility and control necessary to reduce food costs. Instill tracks over $14 billion annually in purchases from over 2300 distribution points for over 400,000 restaurant locations across the US and Canada. Some of the operators using Instill services include Applebee's International, Delaware North Companies, International Dairy Queen, Sodexho, SUBWAY(R) Restaurants Independent Purchasing Cooperative, and Yum! Brands Unified Foodservice Purchasing Coop. Instill is headquartered in Redwood City, California. Instill can be reached at 1-888-Instill or at www.instill.com.

About ABL Management

ABL Management, Inc. is a professional food service management organization headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. ABL Management, Inc. was formed to provide comprehensive and superior food services management to both public and private sector markets. College/Universities, hospitals, commercial employee cafeterias, government food service operations are afforded a wide range of expert management services from special events, catering, satellite and cafeteria style operations, as well as commissary services, wholesale foodstuff and shelf-stocking. ABL Management can be reached at 800-375-1293 or www.ablmanagement.com.

Instill and Purchase Insight are trademarks or registered trademarks of Instill Corporation.