{"id":7636,"date":"2020-12-06T15:27:53","date_gmt":"2020-12-06T20:27:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/?p=7636"},"modified":"2026-02-12T04:56:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T09:56:24","slug":"food-beverage-erp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/food-beverage-erp\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A with Aaron Olin: Food & Beverage COVID challenges and how ERP enables agility"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tQ&A with Aaron Olin: Food & Beverage COVID challenges and how ERP enables agility\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Aaron\t\t\t\tAaron Olin<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

For eight months (and counting) the COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies in virtually every vertical, especially food & beverage<\/a>, to make significant operational changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aaron Olin, a senior consultant with Ultra Consultants<\/a>, and an expert in building ERP solutions for food & beverage manufacturers<\/a> and distributors<\/a>, recently sat down for a quick Q&A. Here is what he had to say about the state of the industry and how companies are meeting the unfamiliar challenges of these unusual and difficult times:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight months into the \u201cnew now,\u201d how is the food & beverage industry faring, how have companies adapted to a different business environment?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Aaron Olin (AO): <\/strong>\u201cAdapted\u201d depends on what the products they make, and on their customer group. We\u2019ve got clients in various sectors, and we have clients that sell products into multiple sectors. Our clients that sell directly into grocery channels, for example, saw a business increase. But clients and divisions of clients focused on food service saw their business decrease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are shopping in the grocery stores more, and cooking at home more. So, if you\u2019re a company with products going into the grocery channel, you\u2019re doing better than if you are in food service. For consumer products, those companies saw an increase, too, because people are cooking at home and ordering food from Amazon, meal-kit companies, and other online merchants. One interesting change is that the bulk sections at groceries have closed with COVID. So, anyone selling product into those bulk operations has to find alternate outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One more change we see in food & beverage \u2013 and in other industries, too \u2013 is a major move toward paperless operations. We help companies with business process improvement, software selection, and ERP implementation. And one of the big benefits of these initiatives is to move manufacturing operations from paper-based systems to digital systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, with COVID, paper-based systems were thought to be a virus transmission risk just simply with the paper changing hands, and many companies were concerned and looking for a digital solution. It looks now that surface contamination is not a likely means of transmission, but it is possible, and that risk can be eliminated by changing an operation from paper-based to paperless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n