Rich Glen's Journey: Transforming Business Operations with SMB Consultants

Rich Glen, a diversified olive oil institution based in Victoria, has become a significant player in Australia's culinary scene. This success story is a blend of family heritage, innovation, and strategic partnerships that have helped them thrive in a competitive market.

The Genesis of Rich Glen

Founded in the early 1990s on family land by skilled butcher Damien Vodusek and his father Franc, Rich Glen took a pivotal turn when Damien married Ros, a trained chef. Recognising the potential in distributing quality olive oils amidst a market flooded with cheap imports, they embarked on a journey to bring premium olive oil to Australian consumers.

Early Challenges and Growth

Angelica Morse joined Rich Glen in 2013 when the company was still in its nascent stages. At that time, the business revolved around a grove, a farm shop selling cake and coffee, and a small team making dressings one litre at a time using a Thermomix. Over the years, Angelica transitioned from managing staff and product production to overseeing operations. She witnessed the production side gradually increase throughput, now using a 200-litre machine to create world-class dressings.

The Need for Operational Overhaul

As Rich Glen expanded, so did its challenges. By 2019, the farm shop and café had grown significantly, with product ranges evolving from six dressings to nearly 200 products, including skincare and food items. However, their operational systems lagged behind this growth.

"Our accounting software could only be used by one person, and they had to actually be on the farm. If you had any questions about sales, you had to ask the office manager or bookkeeper. Each production manager ran their own versions of the accounting software, making inventory management a nightmare," Angelica explains.

Partnering with SMB Consultants

Recognising the need for a comprehensive solution, a contact in Queensland recommended SMB Consultants, experts in ERP systems and integrating complex parts across manufacturing, sales, and reporting.

Phase One: Initial Implementation

The first task was to implement a cloud-based point of sale, inventory, and customer data system to alleviate some pressure. Jeff Atizado, Joint Managing Director at SMB Consultants, notes, “Rich Glen is a multifaceted business – certainly with the café, the making of their products and a bit of manufacturing. It was difficult to find a ‘one size fits all’ option that would suit.”

SMB Consultants considered a diverse suite of products tailored to Rich Glen’s needs, built around a few core tools, including Xero for accounting, despite initial resistance from their accountant.

“Many people believe that one package or software needs to be able to meet all their needs – and while that’s ideal, it means you miss out on the possibility of creating a better solution by piecing together great parts. This is why some people stick with legacy solutions, even when there’s an ideal combination of tools, integrated and functioning as one, waiting for them,” Jeff explains.

Phase Two: Comprehensive Integration

As circumstances evolved, SMB Consultants and Rich Glen reassessed their software stack. The decision was between integrating Vend with Cin7 Core (formerly DEAR Systems) or opting for Cin7 Core as an all-in-one solution.

Deepak Stevens, Sales Implementation Engineer with SMB Consultants, oversaw both phases. “There was a whole aspect of reordering and manufacturing which they weren't able to handle on Vend,” Deepak says. “Cin7 Core was going to be the right platform to begin the manufacturing process – which is really important to what they do within Rich Glen.”

Achieving a Comprehensive Suite

The goal was to manage the complex parts of manufacturing and sales, suitable for their business size, enabling them to make informed decisions based on real data. High visibility of inventory levels, B2B capabilities, clean inventory management, and an easy transition to the new system were crucial.

Angelica explains, “Our previous setup was good for sales but lacked communication with the inventory system, creating more work in reconciling inventory levels and managing stock. The staff would be trying to order stuff that might've been out of stock and then they would be constantly trying to reorder it from the warehouse to get brought up to the stores. We had no visibility.”

The first part of the new implementation was to integrate Marsello, the existing loyalty, email, and SMS marketing tool, into Cin7 Core. From there, the rest of the operations gradually moved across.

“Now we use Cin7 Core for all our inventory management, so that's for all our stock levels,” Angelica says. “We closed the café, and closed the farm to the public, and instead opened two retail stores in town. One’s solely a food retail store, and one’s a skincare retail store. Cin7 Core needed to manage our online orders, the point of sale for both stores, and stock levels for production.”

Additionally, SMB Consultants set Rich Glen up with Pinch for payments, Starshipit for order fulfilment, and Xero for accounting – a robust software stack that has supported the organisation well.

Looking Ahead

Deepak adds that Angelica can now use Cin7 Core to forecast accurately, create clear manufacturing processes, and achieve better stock transparency and internal workflow management.

“We’re also coming up to a point where we’re talking about implementing a forecasting system called StockTrim that's going to give them next-level forecasting for all of this manufacturing that's going on within the business. It’ll also improve their cash flow and help the team manage stock and reordering from their side. It’s a massive improvement in just a year – and a lot better than what they could have achieved under their old system.”

Reflecting on Success

Although it's early days for quantifiable metrics, Angelica is thrilled with the results so far.

“What we’ve gained is immeasurable and invaluable, and the data has been fantastic from a managerial perspective, and from the owners’ perspective, to be able to log on and see what’s happening. It’s just made our decision making much better in terms of what promotions we're running.”

“The team has loved the changes. The workflow is now really easy, whether it’s for a customer or a B2B custom client wanting to change an order. If they call us, we can change orders – it's just a much better workflow for the team.”

Angelica has enjoyed working with SMB Consultants for the second time, noting the improved organisation of the re-implementation process.

“I’ve loved working with them. It's been great because SMB takes the guesswork out of it; they really help you and way past the implementation process. If you’re unsure where to go or what to use, what software to use, then they’ll help you look into your business and work with you to find out what's the best solution for you.”

Jeff adds that it’s been incredibly rewarding to have Angelica and Rich Glen trust SMB Consultants for the second time.

“Angelica's just such a great client to work with. She's so willing to work together with you and to be open in terms of reevaluating workflows and she invests the time into documenting those workflows. So I think the process has been mutually positive in terms of how we've arrived at a solution that is going to be improving the areas that she was looking to fix.”

“It was a catalyst for us to really look at what we were doing – to circle back, continue that relationship, and really do all the things that we could do. We’ve also changed our processes as a result, taking on some of Angelica’s early feedback and improving our processes internally.”

“There’s a list of things we’re working on to free up Angelica’s time, like looking at inventory planning software StockTrim – and, more importantly, keep Rich Glen in line with their goals, and give Angelica more time to spend with her family. That, to me, is really rewarding and satisfying. I’m really proud of Deepak and team, and what they’ve done with Rich Glen.”