Kent Falls Brewing Co. produces around 2,000 barrels a year, across a wide range of styles and SKUs. The brewery also self-distributes its beer, adding another layer to managing inventory, orders, distribution and kegs.
We spoke to Barry Labendz, Founder of Kent Falls Brewing Co., about why the brewery moved to Breww in October 2024 and what has changed since.
Before Breww, things were getting complicated
Before Breww, Kent Falls was using Ekos alongside spreadsheets and separate routing software.
As the brewery grew, managing its self-distribution became increasingly complicated.
“We produce about 2,000 barrels or so a year, a lot of different styles, a lot of different SKUs. Making sure inventory and all of the pieces that come along with that together can be a challenge.
“What really complicates things is we self-distribute our beer. So it’s not as if we just say, cool, 50 cases off to the distributor, one invoice, we get paid.”
Kegs added another layer.
“How do you know if a keg was there? You give a credit, you forget the keg. It’s just so many things that get complicated. And the more customers we thankfully brought on, the more challenging logistics and distribution became.”
The process involved moving information between several systems.
“We were using Ekos for raw invoices and inventory and things. Then we were downloading a report that we put into a spreadsheet that my partner made.”
The spreadsheet brought together orders, keg collections and cheque collections. That information was then moved into third-party routing software, exported back into the spreadsheet and used to make Ekos match.
“Any time one thing changed, you had to go through that whole thing. It was so many hours. Tedious work.”
“And things would always then be wrong. What happens if somebody put a keystroke that broke a calculation or some programming in the spreadsheet?”
Why Kent Falls chose Breww
Flexibility was a major factor in choosing Breww, alongside having distribution and routing within the same system.
“I really liked, across the board, the flexibility and how you could customise something for your own operations.”
Kent Falls also wanted something that could work across more of the business.
“The biggest reason that we chose to work with Breww is Breww is able to provide us the framework in every aspect of our operation: purchasing, production, inventory, sales, sales to wholesale, sales directly to customers, and reporting.”
Bringing those areas together also meant less time moving between different tools.
“Having everything there, at least we worked on it in one site and we got a chance to learn how it functions and spare ourselves the bouncing back and forth and training on five systems.”
Breww at this point is sort of central command for our business
Today, Kent Falls operates both its brewery and distillery through Breww.
“Breww at this point is sort of central command for our business.”
“We really try and put as much as possible [into it]. It’s connected to our POS for inventory and sales, and it’s no longer wholesale revenue charts over here, retail revenue charts over here. Everything is overlaid together successfully.”
Breww is also the brewery’s distribution hub.
Where drivers previously worked with an iPad and multiple printed sheets, they can now load their manifest and scan kegs through Breww.
“Now it’s an iPad. They take Breww, they load the manifest, they scan the kegs. It’s all there.”
Different members of the Kent Falls team have access based on what they need to do, including production staff, drivers, retail managers, the distillery team and the brewery’s bookkeeper.
“What makes it manageable and feels secure is that we can select the actual individual tasks somebody is able to access rather than just saying production, sales, distribution, you’re an admin.”
Less paper and fewer systems
The change is visible in the brewery’s day-to-day processes.
In production, inventory paperwork can be photographed and added directly to a purchase order, with information syncing into Xero.
On the distribution side, there is less paperwork for drivers.
“We’re no longer printing tons of sheets that don’t need to be printed. It’s print the manifest, print the invoices, scan the kegs, get on the road.”
Barry says Breww has cut out almost every other operational system Kent Falls was using, aside from its accounting software.
“Not only does it save paper, but it saves time and energy. You miss fewer things because it’s all contained within the same system.”
Keeping track of kegs
Keg tracking is one example of how having that information together helps day to day.
Barry recently had a customer query a $30 balance after seeing two keg credits on an invoice.
“I showed her the invoice. I explained the system. I said, there’s a keg that’s scanned back. And the next week, I can see that we picked up another keg, gave you a $30 credit.
“And if you look at your containers and your open deposits, they match up. They’re one-to-one. So you’ve gotten all of your deposits back. Oh, no problem. Great.”
Orders now go straight into the operation
Kent Falls has also moved its trade ordering into Breww.
Previously, the brewery used its own web store. Orders arrived by email and then had to be entered manually, while the store itself wasn't connected to inventory.
“We no longer get an email with an order and have to put it in, and maybe we get it wrong, or maybe we didn’t see it.”
Now, orders go directly into the system.
“Everything goes directly in now. So it’s keeping an eye on things rather than sitting and manually entering.”
Because ordering and inventory are connected, customers can also see what is available.
“It’s all tied together, and our customers have as much information as we do and are able to move forward appropriately.”
That reduction in manual work is also changing how the team spends its time.
“We’re now rethinking some of what somebody’s job is because they don’t have to sit there and do it.”
More beer with a smaller team
When asked about measurable impact, Barry highlighted what Kent Falls has been able to achieve with its current team.
“We have brewed and sold more beer in the last two years with Breww, with a smaller staff, than we have in the five years previously.”
“Obviously, there’s pandemics and the world is a different place, craft beer is a different place, but I think our small staff, we’re able to have a small staff and be as productive as we are because we have a system that is tight, contained and works for us and our team.”
Using margins to make production decisions
Kent Falls has been operating around its production capacity for the past couple of years and has started working with a third-party producer for some of its beer.
Initially, the brewery outsourced both draft and packaged production of one of its most popular beers. After the first production cycle, the team looked at the margins.
“We realised that even though we were able to make some more beer, the margins we were selling our most popular beer at on draft had plummeted to like 30% because of the contract fees, whereas the margins on those cans were 60%.”
That led to a change.
“So we said, okay, we know we need to now bring this draft back in-house. Let them make the contracted cans and focus on cans, and we’ll just shift to some easier draft stuff.”
“Being able to quickly look at that, it’s really had a positive impact.”
Barry's production team is also starting to use that information more directly.
“They were really excited. They said, ‘I want to see what margins all of our different products are at.’”
It means production decisions can take commercial performance into account too.
“Are we being more efficient? Are we trimming our costs? Are we making beers that are good for the business rather than something that sounds good, but is a waste of our time?”
What would Barry tell another brewery considering Breww?
“I would tell them yes.”
“I would happily be a reference for anybody considering Breww.''
“But I would certainly recommend Breww, one, as a software and two, as a support team. I think you guys are better than almost any company that we work with.”
For Barry, the support has stood out despite the time difference between Kent Falls and much of the Breww team.
“There may not be a number to call 24/7, but your responsiveness with the time difference is better than most companies we deal with in the same time zone or even an hour away.”
“It’s a very encouraging system to work in.”