Running a food and beverage business is no small task. Between juggling perishable stock, ever-changing regulations, customer demands, and tight profit margins—it’s a lot to keep on top of. That’s why more and more businesses in this sector are turning to one essential piece of technology: ERP systems.
Whether you’re a food manufacturer baking batches of goods daily, or a wholesale distributor managing deliveries across the country, the right ERP system can help streamline operations, improve traceability, and support your growth. Let’s take a look at why it’s becoming the secret ingredient to success for food and beverage businesses.
Why Food and Beverage Businesses Need an ERP System
In the food and drink sector, things move quickly—and mistakes can be costly. Without clear visibility over your stock, supply chain, and production, it’s easy for issues to snowball. That’s where ERP systems comes in.
Good ERP systems brings all your data and processes into one place, connecting departments like purchasing, finance, warehousing, and sales. Instead of working in silos, your team works from a single source of truth. That means faster decisions, fewer errors, and better results.
According to Aberdeen Group, SMEs using ERP systems experience 20% faster decision-making thanks to better access to real-time data.
Here’s how ERP systems helps:
• Real-time inventory management – Know what’s in stock, what’s on order, and what’s nearing expiry.
• Batch and traceability tracking – Track every ingredient or product from supplier to customer.
• Regulatory compliance – Stay audit-ready and meet food safety standards like BRCGS, SALSA and HACCP.
• Production and planning tools – Reduce waste, avoid overproduction, and keep up with demand.
What to Look for in Food and Beverage industry ERP Systems
Not all ERP systems are suitable for the food industry. You need software that understands the unique pressures of working with perishable goods, compliance, and high customer expectations.
Key features to look for include:
• Full traceability from raw ingredient to finished product
• Expiry date and shelf-life tracking – Reduce waste and manage risk
• Catch weights and flexible units of measure – For products sold by weight, case, or pallet
• Built-in quality control – To meet food safety standards like BRCGS, SALSA and HACCP
• Customer-specific pricing and promotions – Keep your pricing flexible and accurate
• Real-time dashboards and reports – So you always know what’s happening in your business
According to Food Manufacture UK, 70% of UK food and drink manufacturers cite traceability as their top food safety concern. ERP systems like SAP Business One can give you the tools to manage this confidently—with full batch history, expiry control, and instant access to product data.
How SAP Business One Supports Food Manufacturing and Wholesale SMEs
SAP Business One is designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses and offers everything a growing food company needs—without the complexity or cost of enterprise software.
It gives you the flexibility to customise processes, automate admin-heavy tasks, and gain complete visibility across your business. Whether you’re manufacturing goods or distributing them, SAP Business One is built to help you manage better.
Let’s break it down:
For Food Manufacturing Businesses
If you’re making your own products—baking, bottling, blending—then SAP Business One gives you powerful tools to stay in control:
• Recipe and Bill of Materials (BOM) Management: Standardise your recipes and scale production without losing consistency. Easily manage multiple versions for different flavours, sizes, or customer needs.
• Batch Control and Traceability: Track every ingredient from supplier to finished product. If a food safety issue arises, you can trace it in seconds—not hours or days.
• Production Planning and MRP: SAP Business One automatically tells you what to buy and when, based on live data from sales, stock, and production schedules.
• In-Process Quality Checks: Build checks into every stage—ingredients, processing, packing. Record results straight into the system for compliance and quality control.
• Yield Reporting: Compare actual vs expected output to spot where you’re losing product, whether through waste, spillage or overfilling.
For Food Wholesale and Distribution
If you’re in food wholesale, you need fast order fulfilment, flexible pricing, and complete stock visibility. SAP Business One delivers all this and more:
• Stock Across Locations: Easily manage multiple warehouses or vehicle stock. Always know what you have and where it is.
• Expiry & Shelf-Life Tracking: First-expiry-first-out (FEFO) stock control reduces waste and keeps your reputation intact.
• Catch Weights & Units of Measure: Handle products sold by weight, pallet, or unit with full pricing and costing accuracy.
• Customer Pricing & Discounts: Offer contract pricing, volume discounts or customer-specific deals—without relying on spreadsheets.
• Order to Delivery: From order entry to picking, packing, and dispatch—SAP Business One connects your whole fulfilment process to avoid mistakes and keep customers happy.
Why SAP Business One is a Great Fit for SMEs
SAP Business One is more than just software—it’s a strategic tool that helps SMEs grow with confidence. It’s flexible, scalable, and doesn’t require a full-time IT team to manage. As your business grows, the system grows with you. You can start with what you need now, and add more functionality as required.
• It’s easy to use
• It works out of the box, but is fully customisable
• It scales with your business, so you’re never paying for features you don’t need
• It helps you stay compliant, reduce waste, and improve profit margins
• And most importantly—it helps you make better decisions, faster
And that matters now more than ever.
And when you work with a food industry expert like Signum Solutions, we don’t just install the system—we tailor it to the way you work, so you get maximum benefit from day one.
The food and beverage industry doesn’t stand still—and neither should your systems. Modern ERP systems like SAP Business One gives you the tools, visibility, and control you need to handle whatever’s next. From full traceability to flexible pricing and smart forecasting, it’s the all-in-one solution that helps you reduce risk, increase efficiency, and deliver consistently high-quality service.
Let’s Talk
If you’re ready to take control of your operations and bring more visibility into your food or drink business, we’d love to help.
Contact Signum Solutions today for a friendly, no-obligation chat about how SAP Business One could support your business. From manufacturing to distribution—we understand the food industry, and we’ll help you get results that matter.
Let’s make your ERP system the secret ingredient to your growth.