The hospitality program has enabled a variety of sustainable benefits for Foxwoods, such as:

• Fewer truck deliveries to optimize receiving staffing and resources
• Streamlined invoices to speed up and simplify payment processing
• More efficient operations to reduce costs and enhance overall profitability
• Significant savings gained by tapping into hospitality-focused contracts from leading suppliers

 
Since the Provista Hospitality Program launched with Foxwoods, it has expanded to myriad other hospitality organizations—more than 100,000 clients now benefit from the program. It covers industries such as hotels, resorts, casinos, museums, entertainment venues, stadiums and expo centers to effectively meet diverse procurement needs.  

LEADING THE CHARGE IN GAMING AND HOSPITALITY

Philip Minichino, chief procurement officer at Foxwoods, recently became the chair of the Provista Hospitality Council. Minichino joined Foxwoods Resort Casino in 1999. He served as an accounting manager and then manager of analysis and planning before moving into his role as chief procurement officer and council chair. 

“Being nominated to be the chair of the hospitality council is a great honor and means that I have the respect of my peers,” he says.
 
Minichino is working with other council members and Aaron Cooper, senior director at Provista and lead council facilitator, to set the direction for the council. Using his industry experience, Minichino is outlining his vision and goals.
 
“The council needs to become more proactive versus reactive in order to save money and become more innovative with technology in hospitality,” Minichino explains. “Also, we need to create a council where we are able to communicate with other council members outside of meetings.”

SETTING A NEW STANDARD FOR HOSPITALITY

Foxwoods has already played an instrumental role in shaping the hospitality program and helping drive its ongoing success. The partnership between Foxwoods and Provista set a benchmark for procurement processes, lowering costs and enhancing efficiencies, enabling the resort casino to focus on delivering exceptional guests experiences.
 
“Our biggest success is developing the hotel category, and now it is being used by other members. We placed all of the items in a hotel room on a conference table and had our Provista rep identify a vendor that could supply all of these items,” Minichino says. “The hotel category is one of the most utilized categories by our team.”  
 
He points out that one area of improvement moving forward is benchmarking the program against other group purchasing organizations (GPOs). “We should look to provide more industry data and see how we are performing against other GPOs,” he says.

CREATING A VISION FOR HOSPITALITY

Over the course of the partnership, Foxwoods has extended the use of Provista contracts and services, not only at the resort casino, but across the broader operations of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. “We want to save money for our organization and increase contract spend,” Minichino says.
 
As the Provista Hospitality Program chair, Minichino is looking forward to identifying and acting on new opportunities. “I’m most excited about the communication with the council,” he says. “I consider myself part of the team. We have great conversations and think outside of the box. There are many council members who I can call or email if I have an issue to see how they deal with it within their business. We help each other.”
 
This open communication is one way that Minichino will measure the program’s success moving forward. “Success means that senior management sees the value that Provista and the council’s leadership provides to our organization and member organizations through cost savings,” he says. “Also, members will increase communications outside of the council, which is also a measure of success and collaboration.”
 
Hospitality organizations interested in joining the council can simply apply online.