SuiteWorld 2022 - Crumbl bakes in ERP success with NetSuite
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Cookie maker is now better equipped to deal with supply chain challenges and fluctuating costs
When Crumbl started life in 2017, it was with no grand plan to build a baking empire. Rather, two cousins - one with a tech background and one still at university – decided to start up a business and saw a market opportunity for selling cookies. After a lot of wasted dough, they perfected their chocolate chip cookie recipe and opened their first store in Logan, Utah.
Five years on, Crumbl now has 600 franchise locations across almost every US state, and is opening between seven to 10 stores each week. The company has doubled its size annually year on year, and is on track to continue doing so.
While the firm’s growth trajectory has been pretty consistent, it has always felt like a pretty wild ride with highly energetic growth, according to Michael Card, VP of finance at Crumbl. This rapid expansion made it difficult to get a streamlined and accurate view of the firm, leading to a decision to invest in a more advanced technology platform to run its business. Card explains:
The actual catalyst was realizing that I was having a dog of a time getting a consolidated view of the company. What really started me looking into a more established ERP was wanting a consolidated view of the multiple operating entities that we had going at the time.
Originally, Crumbl was using QuickBooks Online for its accounting software and Divvy as its corporate expense and card solution. Card started looking for a new ERP system in June 2021, and was investigating both NetSuite and Sage Intacct. NetSuite seemed most capable of being the final solution Crumbl would need for what it is trying to accomplish, says Card:
I really didn't want to have to do another ERP implementation. I wanted to find something that could do what we needed, or had a partner that could integrate that could do what we needed, or was customizable and open enough that we could even build what we needed and have it talk. As I was exploring, I got the least number of - no, we can't do that or not yet from NetSuite, and that's why we went with them.
Cost wise, NetSuite came in a little steeper than the version of Sage Intacct that Crumbl was considering. However, the extra expense is justified by the added value NetSuite offers regarding customizability, and the security that the cookie company won’t need to change systems again in five years. Card recalls:
Our move to NetSuite came around the same time that we started having a need for things like a warehouse management solution and a more robust approach to AP and AR. Though we didn't necessarily use many other systems before NetSuite, NetSuite is filling the role of all the systems we would have had to get.
In the oven
Implementation began last September, and Crumbl has been live on NetSuite since the 1st of January this year. While rollout has been quick on the accounting side, the cookie firm has lagged a bit on the warehouse management side due to the rapid growth the business is experiencing. Card explains:
When our own internal processes and systems and needs are constantly growing and changing, a heavy implementation of a system that is highly capable but also very complex definitely lends itself to being a hard thing to pull off. It's in a constant state of implementation in one aspect or another because our growth is such that by the time we finish one aspect of NetSuite, getting it up and running and moving smoothly, we're going to meet the next one. We're constantly adding.
Crumbl has also been working on integrating other technology with the NetSuite system. The Divvy integration is live for corporate spend and card use, and Celigo is helping the firm integrate Shopify.
One of the core objectives for the project was finding a system that could support additional complexity through expansions like adding subsidiaries or sister companies, and that has already been met. Card says:
I needed the ability to move internationally without major hiccups in the system, I didn't want that to be a sticking point when that time comes. With OneWorld, that won't be an issue.
The firm is also on track for joining up all the disparate aspects of the business to enable consolidated reporting and a single view of operations, he adds:
On the operations side, the fact that we are even able to approach warehousing, logistics, procurement with some level of consistency is definitely an improvement in that we can do it where before we couldn't. It's not replacing an existing system. It is the first system to allow us to accomplish some of these things.
While there isn’t a huge amount of interaction between the new system and franchise partners at this point, Crumbl is exploring potential improvements, including the portal for AR and AP letting partners see their outstanding invoices.
The new technology is already helping Crumbl deal with external issues like fluctuating costs and supply chain challenges. Card says the firm has great relationships with its suppliers and so has been able to maintain costs for staple ingredients. For the smaller amount of rotational products that are needed every once in a while, this is trickier to manage. Card argues:
It's unreasonable for us to stockpile gummy sharks for Shark Week, for example. But in those instances where we have to supply almost a just in time approach to certain aspects of our supply chain, we have been able to leverage some of the technology that we've been developing through NetSuite, through efforts on our procurement side, to ensure that we have all of the product that we need at a reasonable price.
Crumbl has had just one instance where it had to pivot one of the cookies it was offering to a different recipe halfway through the week due to supply chain outages. Other than that, the business has been able to maintain a weekly rotating menu during this period of supply chain volatility, providing all its stores with all the required ingredients. Card concludes:
Though we haven't dealt with major failures at this point, it is a concern, and we are actively taking measures to ensure that we have sufficient control over our supply chain.
We're starting to approach some interesting crossroads where some of the challenges that we face, we do need to get creative. Having clear technology, the supporting data, the underlying architecture allows communication to be more efficient, communication to be more accurate, and helps solve the problem.