In an industry known for its creative side, the importance of bakery administration can be easy to overlook. Yet no matter the size of your bakery, how you manage tasks like order processing or inventory can make or break your business.
Thankfully, that is where bakery software steps in. This technology can cover a wide range of tasks, with the goal of making life easier for bakers. From taking and managing orders to keeping ingredient inventory organized, and quite a bit in between, bakery software can add automation to crucial calculations and time-intensive tasks that all food producers must deal with when working with customers, fresh ingredients, and waste prevention.
With these types of tasks to manage, it’s no surprise that bakeries were the first businesses to use computers. In the 1950s, Lyons Tea Rooms in England implemented one to manage all their orders, schedules, invoices and production requirements. While technology has certainly advanced over the years, the need for this automation remains the same. For bakeries looking to scale up production or simply free up time to focus on quality products, bakery software is the answer.
What can it handle?
The goal with bakery software is to streamline operations, making production more efficient. A few ways it can do that is by automating tasks in key parts of:
- Production: Recipe management and costing, technical module, reports, production waste control, pricing
- Wholesale: monitor returns, automated invoicing and standing orders, delivery route optimization, weekly orders, home delivery
- Retail: waste control, shop ordering, stock reconciliation, in-store production planning
- And more: accounts, labeling, e-commerce, weighing
As a result, bakeries can expect to:
- Reduce costs
- Increase sales
- Improve efficiency
Things to consider when choosing bakery software
As with purchasing any software or equipment, it’s important to look at where business and technology is headed.
First, know your specific needs when it comes to issues such as the shelf life of products, inevitable lead-times, returns, credits and deliveries management. Identifying the key pain points for your production will highlight the key needs the software must be able to manage. Map out where your business is growing as well, so you have an idea of the amount of customers and products you’ll be managing.
Another key aspect is the software’s flexibility. As orders start to come in on everything from social media to in-store, and employees complete tasks from all over, a system needs to operate beyond the brick and mortar of the store. Cloud-based apps allow work to be done on the go, and integrate across all the multiple systems and users in play. As the rest of the bakery becomes more automated and flexible, it’s important that bakery software keeps up.
Want to test out bakery software? Get a demo!
To get a full picture of what bakery software can do, and how it can fit into your operation, get a first-hand look with Cybake. Our cloud-based bakery management software system has served bakeries and food producers across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Africa.
Cybake comes as a core package with additional modules, so you only ever pay for what you need. It’s a mobile solution that allows you to use it on the go, without the added cost of hardware. Easily integrate it with your accounts, e-commerce, EDI, POS, labeling and weighing software and hardware.
