Forward-deployed in food, beverage & agriculture
Less of the season spent on paperwork.
From the field to the shelf, we build AI into allocation, grower and supplier records, FSMA 204 traceability, label review, depletions, and trade spend, inside the systems you already run. People approve everything a regulator or retailer sees.
Where the hours go
- Allocation by spreadsheet
- Records scattered across systems
- Labels checked by eye
- Depletions and deductions unreconciled
What a pod builds
- Demand and allocation planning
- Grower and supplier records
- FSMA 204 traceability records
- Food safety documentation
What gets measured
- Forecast accuracy by SKU and channel
- Fill rate and on-time in-full
- Mock recall trace time
- Label review cycle time
What is different here
Food and drink run on a calendar set by weather, and the records behind each lot must survive an FDA request, a TTB audit, or a recall. Data sits in pieces across ERP, production, distributor, and retailer systems, and growers share numbers with you that no one else sees. AI is useful here when it keeps those records straight and leaves label, lot, and allocation decisions with the people accountable for them.
I / Where the hours go
What we look for first.
Allocation by spreadsheet
Limited releases and short crops are allocated across distributors, states, and channels in a spreadsheet rebuilt each week from stale depletion and inventory exports.
Records scattered across systems
Lot codes, receiving logs, spray and harvest records, and supplier certificates live in different systems and binders, so every audit and mock recall starts as a search.
Labels checked by eye
Each label revision, allergen statement, and claim is checked by hand against formulas and regulations, and one missed change can mean a hold, a relabel, or a recall.
Depletions and deductions unreconciled
Distributor depletion files and retailer deductions arrive in as many formats as there are partners; many are never fully reconciled, so trade spend leaks and plans run on stale numbers.
II / What we build
Systems, not slideware.
Demand and allocation planning
Forecasts demand from depletions, open orders, and seasonality, then proposes allocations of available inventory and upcoming harvest by distributor, state, and channel for your commercial lead to adjust and release.
Grower and supplier records
Drafts grower and supplier correspondence from contracts and specifications for your team to send, and turns field notes, spray logs, weigh tags, and certificates into records tied to each block, lot, and supplier.
FSMA 204 traceability records
For foods on the Food Traceability List, assembles key data elements for each critical tracking event, flags gaps, and builds the sortable spreadsheet FDA can require within 24 hours (ahead of enforcement, which Congress has barred before July 20, 2028).
Food safety documentation
Drafts updates to HACCP and food safety plans from line data and monitoring logs for your PCQI or HACCP lead to sign, and assembles the evidence an SQF or BRCGS auditor will ask for before the audit.
Label and claims review
Checks draft labels against your formulas, allergen matrix, FDA labeling rules, and TTB requirements, and flags each discrepancy with the rule or formula line it breaks, for your regulatory lead to resolve.
Depletion and retail reporting
Turns three-tier depletion data from VIP, distributor inventory reports, and SPINS, NIQ, or Circana retail data into a weekly view by distributor, rep, and account, with follow-ups drafted for your sales team.
Trade-spend reconciliation
Matches distributor billbacks and retailer deductions to the promotions and agreements behind them, drafts disputes for your team to file, and gives finance an accrual with every match explained.
DTC and club operations
Answers routine member questions and drafts club shipment notes in Commerce7 or Shopify, flags members likely to cancel for a person to call, and leaves state shipping checks to your compliance service.
III / A first vintage
Depletions into allocation
First production deployment, Six to ten weeks
For a wine or spirits brand, a pod joins VIP depletions, distributor inventory, and your ERP in a weekly view, backtests allocation proposals on releases already shipped, and drafts the next release’s allocation for your team to adjust.
Judged by
Hours spent building the weekly depletion report, forecast error by distributor, and distributor days on hand, read against what the Survey recorded.
An illustration of a first deployment, not a description of a past client.
IV / What we measure
Baselined before we build.
- Forecast accuracy by SKU and channel
- Fill rate and on-time in-full
- Mock recall trace time
- Label review cycle time
- Deduction recovery rate and days to resolve
- Distributor inventory days on hand
- Club member retention
Set during the Survey and reported every season after.
Systems we work inside
Your stack, not ours.
- NetSuite
- SAP Business One
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Aptean Food & Beverage ERP
- InnoVint
- vintrace
- Ekos
- VIP (Vermont Information Processing)
- SPINS
- NIQ
- Circana
- Shopify
- Commerce7
- Sovos ShipCompliant
- FoodLogiQ
- Trace One
Named for familiarity, not partnership. We integrate with what you already run and recommend new tools only when the work requires them.
V / Guardrails
Where people stay in control.
Lot records stay authoritative
AI assembles and checks FSMA 204 records but never edits a lot code or key data element on its own; corrections are proposed, approved, and logged, so the record you produce is the record you kept.
People approve every label
Your regulatory lead approves every label, claim, and declaration of the nine major allergens, and a person submits each TTB COLA application. Nothing reaches the printer on the system’s word alone.
Recall readiness, rehearsed
Every lot links back to its inputs and forward to its customers, and mock recalls run on the same records a real recall would use, so gaps surface in a drill rather than an outbreak.
Grower and supplier confidentiality
Grower contracts, yields, pricing, and supplier specifications stay in your tenant under role-based access; they are never pooled with another client’s data or used to train a model outside your tenant.
Related
Work that tends to travel with this.
Operations & supply chain
Order exceptions, supplier follow-up, shipping paperwork, and S&OP: handled inside limits you write down.
Sales & revenue
Account research, CRM notes, proposals, and forecasts. More time selling, and a number you can defend.
Finance & FP&A
Forecasts, variance commentary, cash, and the board pack: sooner, with every number owned by finance.
Consumer & retail
Product content, customer service, planning, and marketplaces, with every claim traceable to its source.
Begin with the Survey.
Two to three weeks inside your operation, a fixed fee agreed up front, and a ranked plan you keep whether or not we build it together.