“WilldooIT were professional and very accommodating. They delivered what they said they could in a reasonable time frame during a difficult time and now after implementation, are still very much invested in our success with Odoo.”.
The Company
One of Sydney's Largest independent Food Distributors
(Member of the Countrywide Food Service Distributors)
Torino Food Service originated in 1988, with a few Sydney pizza shop owners deciding to use their buying power and procure products in bulk, as a group. The business grew quickly and soon Torino moved into their first warehouse.
The business was acquired by the current owners, The Carageorge family, in 1991 and has remained in the family hands since then. The Carageorge’s were not new to the food business but were new to wholesaling. Over two decades the business continues to grow as they identify new markets and suppliers.
Torino Food Service is a family owned and operated food service wholesaler with 45+ employees, distributing over 2,000 food service products to restaurants, pizzerias, cafes, hotels, pubs and clubs across New South Wales. With an extensive range of high quality local and international products from well-known manufacturers all over the world, Torino Food Service are committed to providing their customers the complete package: competitive pricing, an extensive range of quality products and personalised customer service.
With a specialised range of pizza products, International and local cheeses, quality bulk small goods, Italian wines and beers through to frozen foods, cleaning products and pantry supplies, Torino can meet all your food service product needs. Our international brands include Fabiano, Cantine Sant Agata, Corvino, while local brands include McCains, Heinz, Cobram Estate, Sapore and many more.
The Journey
Torio was using a system that was starting to show its age and not keeping up with the requirements of the modern connected and integrated world. Torino knew they had to expand their marketing into the digital age by leveraging their strengths and moving their business more online, including marketing and distribution.
In early 2020, WilldooIT, a member of the PNORS Technology Group, was contracted by Torino to implement a fully integrated ERP and eCommerce system to replace multiple legacy applications and spreadsheets with a customised Odoo version.
WilldooIT were the stand-out Odoo partner and had shown their level of expertise not only technically but professionally, having existing expertise in the food distribution industry.
The challenge
What systems did you use previously?
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Prior to Odoo we had been using several products: One main ERP system plus several 3rd party programs to cover our needs of Ecommerce, Field Sales, Customer Ordering Platform and Reporting.
What were the issues, challenges or pain points you had when starting to consider a new ERP system?
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Although the system we had worked fine for the purpose of being a sole ERP system, we wanted to have more of a digital footprint. The 3 main considerations were time, cost and training. Sometimes it’s better the Devil you know, so it was a big step for us to jump into something new and something no one in the organisation had previous training on….
The Solution
Why did Torino Food Service decide to choose Odoo? Did you consider other options?
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Ultimately we decided on Odoo after considering Netsuite and Pronto XI as well. For us, after using the online demo, we felt the system was easier and more friendly to navigate and using it seemed a little bit “fun”. It had all the features we wanted and was scalable and being an open-source program meant we could cost-effectively add to the system using other user’s modifications.
Why did you engage WilldooIT to assist with the Odoo implementation?
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First and foremost, we engaged WilldooIT because they are Australian based and are a Gold rated Odoo partner. Jonathan Wilson was an absolute pleasure to deal with. He understood what we needed, and our expectations on quick delivery. He also has experience with our previous ERP system which seems to us to be valuable.
How did WilldooIT approach the solution to address your needs?
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First the discovery phase, where we talked through how we currently work and what we were looking to improve on. From that WilldooIT prepared a quote based on hours estimated to complete the work.
What was our solution? What apps did we implement/develop/modify and why?
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The solution was basic Odoo with WilldooIT modifications. There were 2 main modifications; a Customer order listing based on the previous sales of the customer and a Delivery run schedule. These were 2 very important parts of the business process we needed. They are not standard with any other ERP system we looked at. We also implemented a digital POD system at the same time which we had be planning to do later in our journey.
How has having a cloud-based system benefitted your business?
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Immensely. All Stakeholders in the business run from one platform with one set of data. We all see the same thing and our sales reps have it mobile. Everything in totally live and there are no discrepancies like there were when we ran 4 programs from 4 different providers. We can use the Odoo App from anywhere we like.
The Result
Did Odoo and the WilldooIT solution solve your challenges and assist in accomplishing your objectives?
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Challenges solved! Our objectives of being a 100% online B2B and B2C provider are still to be met. But you have to crawl before you walk. We will get there because we have confidence now in the platform.
What benefits did you see because of our work? (Increased efficiency, reduced errors, etc.)
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We have seen better communication between us and our customers as a result of the data being 100% live and pure. Customers see real time stock figures and prices of which there is no debate. We can take a tablet through the warehouse and literally work from anywhere. Our online order portal for Customers is easy for us and to control. We have transparency through that entire process.
What was your experience of working with the team at WilldooIT?
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We found Jonathan and Alyssa to be very obliging and easy to work with. I don’t feel as if we have been “sold” a system. I feel both WilldooIT and Torino are working towards the same goal and that’s making the Odoo system a great fit for our business.
Are there any additional facts, or figures that you can share?
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It’s cost-effective. The monthly IT and Program Support and Licence fees – although well above the original estimate – are currently 30% lower than what we were spending previously. And we have yet to downscale in-house servers and support.
Which one of these points is considered to be the most important?
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Our most desired outcome was to have one platform for all business needs which is what we have achieved.