Abastecedora
The dictionary lists this as a provider or supplier.
I thought there was some sort of implication of wholesaler involved.
So - I would love to hear from a native speaker the difference between, say, abastecadora and provedor, for example.
Could a retailer be a abastecadora? What about a manufacturer?
All insights appreciated.
4 Answers
May I propose that abastecedor can be:
D, all of the above.
Even the shop keeper down the street, if he buys in a quantity that allows him be my source for an item, can be an abastecedor.
Who he bought it from was his abastecedor.
That supplier may have been another shoppkeeper, a wholesaler, a jobber, an importer or even a manufacturer. Supplier, abastecedor, would be any step in the supply chain that is the source of a product to the next level.
However, I suspect it is most often used to mean the source to the end user.
abastecedor/ ra =supplier manufacturer= fabricante (the one that makes the item in question) So, a retailer could be a abastecedor/ra.
I have seen it translated as "caterer." Looking at the DRAE site, it appears that purveying of food is usually involved. EDIT: the other answers are much more complete!
But I am an English speaker and a bare beginner in Spanish, so I am mainly answering in hope of drawing attention from a native speaker.
I like the word, myself.
So here's like an add-on to the question, that unfortunately I have not heard from many natiove speakers yet...
Abasto - which is clearly a root of the word - has one of the definitions as: Abundance, great amount.
So, if that is the case, does an abastecadora imply something like a mayorista? Selling only in large quantities - like you might find at the Centro de Abastos?
