Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
- Functional Applications - Inventory Management Systems
Applicable Industries
- Food & Beverage
- Retail
Applicable Functions
- Sales & Marketing
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Picking, Sorting & Positioning
Services
- System Integration
- Training
About The Customer
Custard Stand Food Products is a company based in Webster Springs, West Virginia, known for its Hot Dog Chili and Chili Soup. The company provides its products to distributors/retailers and sells directly to customers online and in The Custard Stand restaurants. In 2003, Dee and Angie Cowger converted a three-bay car wash behind their family restaurant into a USDA-approved production facility and launched Custard Stand Food Products. The company's facility regularly produces and packages more than 4,000 pounds of hot dog chili and chili soup. Following an appearance on ABC’s reality show “SHARK TANK” in 2016, the company experienced a significant increase in retail and online sales.
The Challenge
Custard Stand Food Products, a West Virginia-based company known for its Hot Dog Chili and Chili Soup, experienced a significant increase in sales following an appearance on ABC’s reality show “SHARK TANK.” This surge in demand from large retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kroger, and Sam’s Club, smaller chains, and independently owned stores strained the company's existing Excel/paper system for tracking inventory and production. The company was spending a significant amount of time and resources preparing for food safety audits and mock recalls. Additionally, the paper-based system made mock recalls a tedious process, involving the retrieval and cross-referencing of multiple receiving, production, and shipping records. The company also feared the loss or damage of paper records.
The Solution
To address these challenges, Custard Stand turned to Mar-Kov Computer Systems' food manufacturing software, Vittles. This software allowed Custard Stand to improve inventory control, streamline planning operations, and efficiently maintain food traceability records. Vittles records all lot information and barcodes for raw materials at the point of receipt, and Custard Stand records each lot used in its batches electronically. They also record lot numbers at the time of shipping by barcode-scanning the assembled sales orders. The software also provides accurate, instantaneous inventory lookups, eliminating the need for difficult-to-maintain spreadsheets or physical checks on stock and expiration dates. Furthermore, Vittles' Material Requirements Planning (MRP) functionality provides a detailed plan of what materials need to be purchased and manufactured, with quantities and dates specified.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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