Athletic Brewing Company Scores Big With Crafted ERP

Founders Bill Shufelt and John Walker had a crazy idea — to create full-flavor  non-alcoholic brews that could be enjoyed any time, at any place, for any occasion and “Without  Compromise.” Through hard work and many product trials, the pair transformed that idea into reality, and in  2018, Athletic released their beer to the masses. Today, Athletic is a leading producer of non-alcoholic beer.

Running a rapidly scaling, multi-location non-alcoholic beer manufacturing business with a proprietary brewing process is no small feat. Athletic was using siloed software systems, making the work tedious and not conducive to its rocket-level pace.

“When I came on board, there was a disconnect between inventory and production,” explained Rob Riccio, enterprise application manager at Athletic. “It was difficult to keep track of everything.” Athletic was using separate systems for production, inventory, accounting and so on. Leadership knew there was a better way, so they began the search for an ERP. The brewery needed a solution to increase efficiency and evolve with the company as it grew. The team investigated multiple ERP systems, which were good, but did not meet the specific manufacturing needs of non-alcoholic craft beer. Enter Crafted ERP.

One Platform, One Team

Crafted allows the brewery to operate as a unified, cohesive unit. Increased collaboration helps teams uncover and resolve issues quickly and better understand how each player’s role contributes to success. “I may not know everything about brewing, but I’m able to have a conversation about the financial impacts of what a brewer is doing and how they fit into the organization,” explained Jillian Moccia, Athletic’s controller. “We think that’s crucial.”

Reduced Time to Close

Crafted enables Athletic to automate many manual accounting tasks, such as journal entries and prepaid expense tracking, significantly reducing the time required for month-end close. Jillian noted that with Crafted, her team has “cut down close time by 10-15%.” Athletic benefits from detailed insights into costs at a very granular level and centralized data from a global viewpoint. “We’re able to analyze, look for efficiencies, and look for any fluctuations with ease,” Jillian continued.

Optimized Batch Management

Production, food safety and quality control teams all come together in Crafted. Athletic can track the entire brewing process from start to finish to ensure each batch meets the high-quality standard that has elevated it to win numerous awards and become one of the largest craft brewers in the U.S.

A Future-Proof Solution

Athletic is onboarding a third production facility in 2025, which will be capable of a higher output than its current two locations. “With Crafted, we can have oversight of the whole organization as we keep growing and maturing,” stated Rob.

The NA powerhouse is confident that Crafted will continue to provide the support it needs now and into the future. Jillian added, “As we continue to grow, whether to a new country with a new currency or opening a new facility and setting up the brews from scratch, Crafted is there for us.”

Athletic has built a close relationship with the Doozy Solutions team and relies on them for industry best
practices, customizations, integrations, and to troubleshoot more complex questions as they arise. Rob said,
“The support team at Doozy is pretty responsive. They care about getting us answers about Crafted, even when
we’ve thrown some unexpected questions that they hadn’t heard before.”

What does the future hold for Athletic? The NA craft brewery looks forward to expanding its use of Crafted
and further automating production processes to increase line speeds. Rob added, “We need things to go faster
and want to know how to make that happen from a technology standpoint. It’s great to work with partners who
know you, who know NetSuite and Crafted, and who can work with our experts to make it happen.”