5 processes every food wholesaler can automate tomorrow
Orders, price lists, documents, payment reminders, stock questions. Where food distribution loses time and how to win it back.
In food distribution the days start early and end late. A good part of that time, though, does not go into the market: it goes into copying, checking and communicating. Here are the five processes we almost always start from.
1. Customer orders
They come in by phone, WhatsApp and email, often all at once. Someone types them into the management software. An automation can collect them from every channel and enter them on its own, leaving people only the doubtful cases.
2. The daily price list
Prices and availability change every morning. Instead of sending them to each customer by hand, the price list updates from a single source and goes out automatically.
3. Delivery notes and documents
Delivery notes can be generated from confirmed orders, with nothing to copy out, and reach whoever loads the truck ready to go.
4. Payment reminders
Polite, punctual reminders, sent at the right moment, without anyone having to remember.
5. Repeat questions
“Do you have sea bream today?”, “What time is the delivery?”. An AI assistant can answer the most frequent questions and pass everything else to a person.
For one of our clients, a seafood market wholesaler, starting from these processes meant going from 12 hours to half an hour a day to handle orders. Want to know how many hours you could win back? Calculate your lost hours or discover the Alvear Mapping.