Top 10 Food and Beverage ERP Systems In 2024

Food and Beverage Companies: they stand apart, necessitating a unique ERP strategy due to their distinctive product development, quality, and production processes. This diverse sector encompasses manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, each demanding a specialized ERP approach tailored to their specific business processes. Even within this market segment, different product types, like Dairy and frozen food, exhibit significant variations in ERP suitability. Analyzing transactions and their interrelation with cross-functional datasets is crucial for discerning these differences.

Food and Beverage Companies Business Processes: Differing significantly from other retail segments, planning in this sector faces unique challenges like expiry dates and lot/serial number tracking. Additional complexities arise from constraints like weight as the primary Unit of Measure (UoM) and the need for catchweight processes. The compliance and quality processes also exhibit distinct characteristics, with a predominant adherence to HACCP compliance standards.

Food and Beverage ERP Needs. Manufacturers, in this segment, rely on ERP systems that seamlessly collaborate with PLM for product development and shop floor modules. Also, this segment witnesses manufacturers following the DTC and DSD business model, requiring the maintenance of an in-house fleet because of the unique storage and delivery requirements. Scheduling complexities stem from bottlenecks like unique furnace designs or recipes managed by specialized groups, necessitating batching strategies. For retailers, alignment with product management, merchandising, and planning is crucial, mirroring other retailers but with added complexity due to food and beverage compliance requirements. These unique constraints significantly shape ERP processes for food and beverage ERP systems. Eager to explore the top food and beverage ERP systems in 2024? Dive into this list for an excellent starting point.

The 2024 Digital Transformation Report

Thinking of embarking on a ERP journey and looking for a digital transformation report? Want to learn the best practices of digital transformation? Then, you have come to the right place.

Download Now

Criteria

• Definition of a food and beverage company. These companies in the food and beverage ecosystem include manufacturers, distributors, retailers, packaging companies, and any other suppliers supplying the food and beverage industry. The list considers companies of all sizes in this ecosystem.
• Overall market share/# of customers. The higher marketshare among food and beverage companies drives higher rankings on this list.
• Ownership/funding. The superior financial position of the ERP vendor leads to higher rankings on this list.
• Quality of development. How modern is the tech stack? How aggressively is the ERP vendor pushing cloud-native functionality for this product? Is the roadmap officially announced? Or uncertain?
• Community/Ecosystem. How vibrant is the community? Social media groups? In-person user groups? Forums?
• Depth of native functionality. Last-mile functionality for specific industries natively built into the product?
• Quality of publicly available product documentation. How well-documented is the product? Is the documentation available publicly? How updated is the demo content available on YouTube?
• Product share and documented commitment. Is the product share reported separately in financial statements if the ERP vendor is public?
• Ability to natively support diversified business models. How diverse is the product to support multiple business models in the same product?
• Acquisition strategy aligned with the product: Any recent acquisitions to fill a specific hole for food and beverage industries? Any official announcements to integrate recently acquired capabilities?
• User Reviews: How specific are the reviews about this product’s capabilities? How recent and frequent are the reviews?
• Must be an ERP product: Edge products such as HCM, CRM, eCommerce, MES, or accounting solutions that are not fully integrated to support enterprise-wide capabilities are not qualified for this list.

10. ECI Deacom

ECI Deacom targets small food and beverage companies, particularly those heavily involved in eCommerce and DTC. Its processes are tailored to food and beverage or chemical-centric industries. Thus, making it less scalable for diverse food and beverage operations. Despite its strengths, the core ERP layers and data model are not scalable for companies seeking mature ERP capabilities. However, it suits smaller companies transitioning from QuickBooks with constrained implementation budgets. While not universally applicable, its relevance to specific smaller companies in the food and beverage sector earns it the #10 spot on our list of top food and beverage ERP systems.

Strengths

1. Deep eCommerce and DTC capabilities. E-commerce and DTC-related features, such as route accounting and proof of delivery, were built as part of the product.
2. Deep last-mile capabilities for food and beverage companies. The food and beverage-specific capabilities that can support both distributors and manufacturers include master lot numbers, formulation and pre-formulation management, and weight measurement during quality processes.
3. Financial backing of private equity and technical architecture. Compared to similar systems in this market segment, Deacom has an SQL-based data store and a more modern interface.

Weaknesses

1. Only suitable for smaller food and beverage companies. Due to the flattened ERP layers, which are designed to reduce implementation time and are easier to use for smaller companies.
2. Ability to support diversified business models. While great for food and beverage and chemical-centric verticals, other food and beverage companies might struggle with it because of limited support for their processes.
3. Weaker supply chain and ERP capabilities. With limited pricing and discounting options, inadequate UoM support, and leaner costing layers for larger food and beverage companies.

9. SYSPRO

SYSPRO targets small food and beverage companies, both manufacturers and distributors. It can support both discrete and process manufacturing capabilities for food manufacturers owning a packaging line, requiring both of these business processes in one database. It also has a very strong alignment with eCommerce players prevalent in the food and beverage space, increasing the available integration options. While great for smaller operations, it is not suitable for large food and beverage companies with multiple entities. Despite these considerations, it still maintains the rank at #9 on our list of top food and beverage ERP systems.

Strengths

1. Support for formulation management capabilities. While some systems that might be primarily discrete might claim to be process-centric, SYSPRO has native support for formulation management.
2. Ability to support diversified business models.  Accommodates several different business models for smaller food and beverage manufacturers and distributors, including process and discrete production processes.
3. Supply chain and finance capabilities. Deeper supply chain and finance capabilities than its peers, including a robust unit of measure support, bin number capabilities, inventory valuation methods, and costing layers.

Weaknesses:

1. Only suitable for smaller food and beverage companies. With limited support for data sharing between entities, it is not a fit for larger companies with multiple entities and presences in multiple countries. 
2. Limited suite capabilities. While great for smaller companies, large food and beverage options would require specialized tools such as PLM, WMS, and TMS integrated as part of the suite.
3. Technical issues with the product. While the product has come a long way in moving away from a file-based data structure to a more reliable SQL-based data store, the users report errors with the product. 

8. SAP S/4 HANA

SAP S/4 HANA caters to larger food and beverage enterprises, excelling in the large enterprise segment or adopting a best-of-breed approach for diversified capabilities. Its key strength is accommodating various global food and beverage business models within one database, but it may lack deep last-mile capabilities, relying on ISV solutions or elongating implementation times. While this reliance can be cost-prohibitive for SMB food and beverage companies, it aligns with the best-of-breed architecture needs required by large food and beverage companies, essential for transactional decoupling and accommodating diverse departmental needs. Despite these considerations, it maintains its position at #8 on our list of the top food and beverage ERP systems.

Strengths

1. Superior financial control and governance for large food and beverage companies. Superior financial traceability and the SOX compliance support required for large, publicly traded companies.
2. Ability to support diversified business models. Supports diversified business models whether you are a food and beverage manufacturer or retailer.
3. Solid best-of-breed options. The availability of best-in-class, best-of-breed products such as SAP EWM for warehouse and TMS capabilities and SAP Hybris for e-commerce for larger food and beverage companies.

Weaknesses

1. Limited last-mile functionality and integration are relevant to food and beverage companies. The integrations that are highly relevant in this space, such as scale or last mile capabilities such as route accounting, would require add-ons or customizations on top of the core platform.
2. Overbloated financial control processes. Overbloated financial control processes, such as compliance, allocation, and approval flows, are only necessary for large organizations.
3. Not fit for smaller and mid-sized food and beverage companies. The SMB food and beverage companies would find SAP S/4 HANA overwhelming and run the risk of implementation failure because of the efforts required to test and simplify the processes needed for smaller companies.

7. Oracle Cloud ERP

Oracle Cloud ERP, much like SAP S/4 HANA, targets larger food and beverage enterprises, excelling in the large enterprise segment or adopting a best-of-breed approach for diversified capabilities. Its strength lies in accommodating global food and beverage business models within one database, though it may lack deep last-mile capabilities, often relying on ISV solutions or extending implementation times. Unlike SAP S/4 HANA, Oracle Cloud ERP boasts higher penetration in the food and beverage verticals due to its existing install base with JD Edwards. The friendly data model and higher win rate make it a preferred choice. Aligned with the best-of-breed architecture, crucial for transactional decoupling, it secures its position at #7 on our list of the top food and beverage ERP systems.

Strengths:

1. Deep ERP capabilities for large food and beverage companies. Robust core ERP features such as international trade management and supply chain planning.
2. Talent ecosystem and well-adopted product. It is one of the most adopted products and has very large communities of consultants to build custom food and beverage-specific functionality.
3. Ability to support diversified business models. Rich product models can natively support many distribution and manufacturing processes, such as process or discrete. 

Weaknesses:

1. Limited last-mile functionality and industry integrations. Limited last-mile functionality and relevant industry integration for food and beverage companies, which will require an add-on or custom development with other solutions.
2. Overbloated financial control processes. Overbloated financial control processes are needed for larger companies but might be overwhelming for smaller companies.
3. Not fit for smaller and mid-size food and beverage companies. Finally, the SMB companies would struggle to relate to the product due to the over-bloated approval flows, allocation, commitment, and financial control processes. 

6. Infor CloudSuite M3

Infor CloudSuite M3 caters to food and beverage companies in the upper mid-market. Its key strength is that it is a complete pre-integrated suite containing several components, including specialized PLM and a tailored supply chain suite. It’s a great fit for focused food and beverage companies with limited IT budgets but might not be the best fit for companies growing through M&A or with diverse business models. Despite these considerations, it maintains its position at #6 on our list.

Strengths

1. Global operations. Only solutions in the market with sufficient financial hierarchies and global trade compliance functionality, pre-baked with the product to support manufacturers exploring global financial and operational synergies. 
2. Last-mile capabilities along with breadth of capabilities for diversified manufacturing business models. Infor M3 has capabilities that require food and beverage manufacturers to integrate PLM and vendor portals more deeply. For retailers, there are capabilities such as integration with merchandising solutions. 
3. Best-of-breed integrations offered out-of-the-box. Most tools that a food and beverage company would require, such as HCM, PLM, data lake, ERP, WMS, TMS, and advanced supply chain planning, are all pre-integrated with M3.

Weaknesses

1. Might not be the best fit as a corporate solution for holding and private equity companies. Food and beverage holding companies with other diverse business models in their portfolio, such as F&B machinery manufacturing or consulting, may not be able to keep all of their entities on one solution.
2. Legacy UI and Experience. Infor M3 is a legacy solution with technical limitations that provides the cloud-native experience with universal search, mobile experience, etc.
3. Weak Ecosystem and Marketplace. The consulting base and marketplaces are virtually non-existent for both Infor M3.

5. QAD

QAD focuses on upper mid-large food and beverage manufacturing companies seeking robust operational functionality beyond larger products like SAP S/4 HANA or Oracle Cloud ERP. However, it may overwhelm smaller companies in the sector. Historically, QAD faced limitations due to its technology, but an upcoming upgrade aims to address this issue. Despite the anticipated improvements, immediate availability remains uncertain, retaining its position at #5 on our list of top food and beverage ERP systems.

Strengths

1. Ability to support diversified business models. QAD’s data and product model allows it to serve various food and beverage industries with the combination of discrete and process manufacturing business models, such as food and beverage manufacturers along with packaging manufacturers. 
2. Process manufacturing capabilities. Includes process and discrete manufacturing capabilities, which is an advantage compared to other similar products.
3. Rich ERP capabilities to support mid- to large food and beverage companies. Has deep international trade management and supply chain capabilities, which gives QAD an edge over its larger peers as QAD will have deeper operational functionality for food and beverage along with these capabilities geared for larger manufacturing companies.

Weaknesses

1. Technical architecture. While QAD has announced that they will be modernizing their stack, it might take a while for it to stabilize.
2. Primarily targeted for discrete manufacturing verticals. QAD is a discrete manufacturing product that targets process manufacturing. So, the food and beverage manufacturers and distributors may not receive as much attention from QAD as discrete manufacturers.
3. Talent Ecosystem. The talent ecosystem is not as prolific as SAP S/4 HANA or Oracle ERP Cloud. Generally, OEMs don’t have the same consulting depth as a consulting company would, requiring your team to do much more heavy lifting and increasing the chances of failure.

4. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations

Like Oracle ERP Cloud, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations targets food and beverage manufacturers and distributors in the upper-mid market and lower-enterprise range. It is not suitable for smaller to medium-sized manufacturers and distributors. The biggest plus of MS Dynamics 365 F&O would be its marketplace, allowing augmenting core capabilities with third-party add-ons and supporting many diverse business models, retaining its rank at #4 among the top food and beverage ERP systems.

Strengths

1. Deep ERP capabilities for upper mid-market and lower enterprise food and beverage companies. It has a unique position for supporting deep operational capabilities for global food and beverage companies where talent availability might be an issue.
2. Ability to support diversified business models. The F&O process and data model is comprehensive, supporting many different business models that food and beverage companies are likely to contain, such as food processing or packaging line manufacturing.
3. Pre-integrated best-of-breed options. The pre-integrated best-of-breed options, such as CRM or field service, might be especially friendly for companies trying to decouple business processes to gain operational efficiencies or expedite the sales or field service cycles for industries such as food and beverage machinery or appliances.

Weaknesses

1. Limited last-mile functionality for last-mile delivery or compliance. Process enablement for food and beverage companies maintaining their own internal fleet might require integration with best-of-breed solutions for last-mile delivery or compliance. 
2. Overbloated financial control processes. Overbloated financial control processes, such as compliance, allocation, and approval flows, which are only necessary for large organizations.
3. Not fit for smaller and mid-size food and beverage companies. Finally, SMB food and beverage companies would find the product overwhelming and run the risk of implementation failure because of the efforts required to test and simplify the processes needed for smaller companies.

3. Aptean Food & Beverage ERP

Aptean food and beverage ERP is a fully flavored pre-integrated suite for food and beverage manufacturers, including all the essential components as part of the suite, such as ERP, WMS, TMS, etc. One of the unique advantages of Aptean Food & Beverage ERP is that it’s built on top of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, therefore overcoming the challenges with the MS Dynamics 365 BC product. The food and beverage-specific IP and integrations created on top of MS 365 BC, along with the support from Aptean would be a huge plus for companies with limited budgets seeking a full suite. Thus, ranking at #3 on our list among the top food and beverage ERP systems.

Strengths

1. Deep food and beverage manufacturing capabilities. Including formulation management and batch manufacturing. 
2. Financial stability of a private equity company. The financial backing of the publisher as it is backed by one of the largest private equity companies.
3. Deeper ERP capabilities than smaller food and beverage ERP systems. Much bigger product than some of these specialized ERP systems, such as Deacom or SYSPRO, with more profound manufacturing and supply chain capabilities similar to Netsuite, Acumatica, or Sage X3.

Weaknesses

1. It might not be the best fit for diverse business models. The food and beverage customizations and process flows might not scale as well for other business models that might require hybrid capabilities.
2. Limited integrations for diverse business models. Businesses that have the complexity of other business models might not scale as well with the focused integrations flavored primarily for the food and beverage industry.
3. Smaller Ecosystem. The adoption and the smaller ecosystems to get support for the product if you are not happy with the support provided by Aptean.

2. Sage X3

Sage X3 targets upper-mid to large food and beverage companies with less than $1B in revenue that seeks a replacement for other larger products due to their weaker operational support and overwhelming workflows. It is not as suitable for the smaller food and beverage companies that will have revenue under $50 million or the larger companies with a presence in more than 10-15 countries. While Sage X3 still maintains a large marketshare among food and beverage companies, it’s not receiving as much attention in Sage’s portfolio, which is primarily focused on the smaller segment and serving the accounting community as it is their primary distribution channel.

Strengths

1. Great alternative for large food and beverage companies. Designed for particularly process and food and beverage manufacturing and distribution. As a result, it provides far deeper functionality for large food and beverage companies that are out of the box.
2. Designed for process manufacturing companies. Its product and operational processes are designed for process manufacturing companies with deep support for features such as product families.
3. Great ecosystem of consultants for food and beverage validation. The ecosystem includes consulting companies with deep expertise in the Sage X3 product and also validation procedures.

Weaknesses

1. Not suitable for smaller food and beverage companies. Its design could be overwhelming for very small food and beverage companies. It might not get as much value due to the configuration and integration requirements.
2. Limited pre-integrated best-of-breed options. Limited best-in-class best-of-breed options as SAP S/4 HANA or Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O for additional capabilities that larger companies would require.
3. Limited Ecosystem. Just like other focused solutions, the Sage X3 ecosystem is fairly limited, with very few options consulting and marketplace options available compared to other solutions.

1. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

MS Dynamics 365 BC targets SMB food and beverage distributors. And it’s especially suitable for food and beverage companies that require depth in supply chain and distribution processes, along with the platform’s flexibility to build last-mile functionality. While it might not have food and beverage capabilities out of the box, the underlying data model is friendlier for food and beverage companies. Because of this reason, the marketplace offers several options for food and beverage companies, including leading solutions such as Aptean Food and Beverage, securing its rank at #1 on our list.

Strengths

1. Availability of several add-ons with deep food and beverage capabilities. The biggest plus for MS BC is its ecosystem and add-ons from highly credible companies that could provide capabilities similar to those of Sage X3 or Deacom. In addition, these add-ons would not be as risky as those developed by ERP resellers.
2. Native support of packaging serial numbers with lot numbers. MS BC offers a rich data model with capabilities such as support for multiple lots and serial numbers, a requirement for food and beverage companies. 
3. Deep supply chain and bin allocation capabilities. MS BC has native capabilities to support food and beverage distributors with multiple warehouses, centralized and decentralized supply network needs, multiple hierarchies of bins, and rich UoM support.

Weaknesses

1. Does not have native support for formulation management. MS BC doesn’t natively support formulation management, which would be a severe limitation for food and beverage distributors that might be heavy in R&D and production.
2. Not suitable for food and beverage manufacturers. MS BC is primarily suited for food and beverage distributors as it has limited manufacturing capabilities and can natively only support lighter assembly-centric manufacturing.
3. The add-ons may not be as proven or as well documented. While MS BC offers several add-ons, they might not be as proven or as well coded as the codebase available directly from the OEM.

+

ERP Implementation Failure Recovery

Learn how Frederick Wildman struggled with Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP implementation failure even after spending over $5M and what options they had for recovery.

Download Now

Conclusion

Food and beverage, distinct from other markets, presents unique challenges particularly like catchweight, specialized Unit of Measure (UoM) strategies, and varied lot and serial number groupings. Distinguishing ERP systems tailored for this sector from others, even those with strong support requires meticulous scrutiny due to shared terminologies and functionalities that might obscure their differences. When selecting an ERP system for food and beverage, carefully consider the capabilities outlined in this list. Thus, if navigating these nuances proves challenging, engaging an independent ERP consultant is a valuable alternative.

FAQs