wholesale ordering

Open Pantry Blog

Best B2B Ordering Platforms for Australian Food Suppliers (2026)

The best B2B ordering platform for an Australian food supplier depends on the problem you need fixed. As at October 2026, Ordermentum suits venue reach, Fresho established fresh-produce operations from $499 a month, Upstock small suppliers starting free, SAAVI ERP-led distributors, and Open Pantry the whole job, free or from $149 a month.
Read more: Best B2B Ordering Platforms for Australian Food Suppliers (2026)

Compare Open Pantry with Ordermentum, Fresho, FoodByUs and others

October 21, 2026

Best B2B Ordering Platforms for Australian Food Suppliers (2026)

By Geoff Philcox 路 Comparisons & alternatives
Sales manager at an Australian wholesale food supplier comparing B2B ordering platforms on a laptop in a produce warehouse office, with crates of fresh vegetables and a refrigerated delivery truck visible through the window
The best B2B ordering platform for an Australian food supplier depends on the problem you need fixed. As at October 2026, Ordermentum suits venue reach, Fresho established fresh-produce operations from $499 a month, Upstock small suppliers starting free, SAAVI ERP-led distributors, and Open Pantry the whole job, free or from $149 a month.
Read more: Best B2B Ordering Platforms for Australian Food Suppliers (2026)
October 18, 2026

How Much Does Wholesale Ordering Software Cost in Australia?

By Geoff Philcox 路 Comparisons & alternatives
Owner of an Australian wholesale produce business comparing ordering software pricing on a laptop at the warehouse office desk beside crates of vegetables
Wholesale ordering software in Australia costs from $0 to over $1,000 a month. As at October 2026, Open Pantry and Upstock publish free supplier plans, entry paid plans start at $99 to $499 a month, and set-up fees run from $0 to $2,000. Compare year-one cost, including add-ons, payment fees and manual order entry.
Read more: How Much Does Wholesale Ordering Software Cost in Australia?
October 13, 2026

How to Automate Email, SMS and WhatsApp Orders Without Making Your Customers Use an App

By Gelou Jimeno 路 AI order entry & automation
Australian wholesale produce supplier's order desk at dawn, with a phone showing SMS and WhatsApp orders beside a tablet listing captured orders and boxes of broccoli
A food wholesaler can automate email, SMS and WhatsApp orders without a customer app by putting AI order capture behind the channels customers already use. It reads each message, identifies the customer, matches lines to the catalogue and their price list, and places the order in the same queue as online orders.
Read more: How to Automate Email, SMS and WhatsApp Orders Without Making Your Customers Use an App
October 8, 2026

Best AI Order Entry Software for Food Wholesalers: How the 2026 Options Actually Compare

By Geoff Philcox 路 Comparisons & alternatives
Order desk at an Australian wholesale food distributor with a laptop showing incoming email and text orders beside a tablet of draft orders, cartons of fresh produce stacked behind
The best AI order entry software for food wholesalers is the one that does something useful after the order is read. At least seven vendors now read emails, texts and voice messages, so compare two things instead: whether the order flows on into picking, invoicing and accounts, and whether your corrections teach the system.
Read more: Best AI Order Entry Software for Food Wholesalers: How the 2026 Options Actually Compare
September 25, 2026

AI Order Entry vs EDI for Food Wholesalers: Which Do You Need (and Why Most Need Both)

By Geoff Philcox 路 AI order entry & automation
Wholesale food distribution operations manager comparing structured EDI purchase orders and free-text customer messages on a screen in a warehouse office
EDI and AI order entry solve different problems. EDI exchanges pre-agreed structured messages with large trading partners who require it; AI order entry interprets free-text emails, texts and WhatsApp messages from the long tail of independent venues. Most food wholesalers need both, landing in one order queue.
Read more: AI Order Entry vs EDI for Food Wholesalers: Which Do You Need (and Why Most Need Both)
September 25, 2026

Catch Weight Software Without the Clipboard: Connecting a Bench Scale to Open Pantry Pick & Pack

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Warehouse, picking & fulfilment
Packer weighing a carton of meat on a stainless steel bench scale connected to a laptop at an Australian wholesale pack bench, capturing catch weight for invoicing
Catch weight software lets packers record each carton's actual weight at the pack bench and bills that weight on the invoice, with no re-keying from paper slips. In Open Pantry, packers type the weight or, on Enterprise, press PRINT on a connected RS-232 bench scale read by Chrome on a laptop or Chromebook.
Read more: Catch Weight Software Without the Clipboard: Connecting a Bench Scale to Open Pantry Pick & Pack
September 25, 2026

EDI for Food Suppliers: How to Take Supermarket and Large-Buyer Orders Through Open Pantry

By Gelou Jimeno 路 AI order entry & automation
Australian wholesale food supplier's despatch dock loading shrink-wrapped pallets of produce cartons bound for a supermarket distribution centre under EDI ordering
EDI for food suppliers means receiving a supermarket's purchase orders electronically and sending back a PO response, advance shipping notice and invoice in the retailer's required format. Woolworths, Coles and Metcash all run EDI accreditation for suppliers. Open Pantry brings EDI purchase orders into Imported Orders, with the PO response deadline visible on each order.
Read more: EDI for Food Suppliers: How to Take Supermarket and Large-Buyer Orders Through Open Pantry
September 25, 2026

Shopify Wholesale Order Management: Importing Your Store Orders Straight Into Open Pantry

By Gelou Jimeno 路 AI order entry & automation
Australian small food producer's packing room with Shopify retail parcels beside wholesale cartons and a laptop showing imported orders ready for pick and pack
Connect your Shopify store to Open Pantry and its orders import automatically into the same Imported Orders list as your emailed and EDI orders. Each line is matched to your catalogue by exact SKU, and when every line matches the order goes straight to picking; anything unmatched waits for review, so clean SKUs decide how much flows through untouched.
Read more: Shopify Wholesale Order Management: Importing Your Store Orders Straight Into Open Pantry
September 25, 2026

Vendor Invoice Matching Software for Food Wholesalers: Scan the Bill, Match the PO

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Accounting, invoicing & payments
Warehouse manager at an Australian wholesale food receiving dock holding a vendor invoice beside a tablet while checking a pallet of delivered cartons against the purchase order
Vendor invoice matching software compares every line of a vendor's bill with your purchase order and the quantity you actually received, then flags price and quantity differences before you pay. For food wholesalers that means short deliveries, unordered items and quiet price rises are caught on the first invoice instead of months later in the margins.
Read more: Vendor Invoice Matching Software for Food Wholesalers: Scan the Bill, Match the PO
September 22, 2026

How Food Wholesalers Reduce Manual Order Entry: A Problem-Led Guide

By Geoff Philcox 路 AI order entry & automation
Wholesale food supplier admin team processing a morning pile of emailed, texted and printed customer orders in a distribution warehouse office
Manual order entry hides across phone, email, SMS, WhatsApp, voicemail, PDFs and rep notebooks, plus the rekeying between order, pick slip, docket and invoice. Cut it by consolidating channels, moving willing customers to self-service, using standing orders, applying AI order entry to the rest, and removing back-end rekeying.
Read more: How Food Wholesalers Reduce Manual Order Entry: A Problem-Led Guide
September 14, 2026

The Wholesale Supplier's Guide to Cutting Off Orders Before Delivery Day

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Order capture & cut-offs
Warehouse supervisor reviewing a locked order list on a wall-mounted screen beside stacked picking crates before a delivery run
Cutting off orders before delivery day works when the cut-off is set from your real operational lead time, published everywhere customers order, and enforced by the ordering system rather than by staff on the phone. Add a written emergency policy, move the cut-off earlier for peak periods, and give customers weeks of notice before tightening it.
Read more: The Wholesale Supplier's Guide to Cutting Off Orders Before Delivery Day
September 10, 2026

Ordermentum vs Fresho vs Upstock vs Open Pantry: the 2026 comparison for food wholesalers

By Geoff Philcox 路 Comparisons & alternatives
Four unlabelled produce cartons lined up on an Australian wholesale loading dock at dawn beside a delivery truck
Four platforms dominate wholesale food ordering in Australia and New Zealand. Ordermentum has the largest venue network, Fresho the most polished fresh-produce operations, Upstock the cheapest start. Open Pantry is the only one that runs buying, stock, picking, delivery, invoicing and payment in one system, tracks batches and expiry, and checks what was delivered against what was billed.
Read more: Ordermentum vs Fresho vs Upstock vs Open Pantry: the 2026 comparison for food wholesalers
September 7, 2026

How AI Order Entry Works for Food Wholesalers: Email, WhatsApp, SMS, Voice and PDF Orders Explained

By Geoff Philcox 路 AI order entry & automation
Wholesale food supplier order desk staff reviewing an AI-converted customer email order on screen in an early morning warehouse office
AI order entry reads the emails, texts, WhatsApp messages, voicemails and PDF purchase orders your customers already send, identifies the customer, matches each line to a SKU, applies that customer's price list, flags anything uncertain, and creates a draft order for your team to approve before it goes to picking and invoicing.
Read more: How AI Order Entry Works for Food Wholesalers: Email, WhatsApp, SMS, Voice and PDF Orders Explained
September 3, 2026

Why Last-Minute Order Changes Are Costing Your Wholesale Business More Than You Think

By Geoff Philcox 路 Order capture & cut-offs
Wholesale supplier warehouse worker checking a pick list on a tablet as an order change comes in
Last-minute order changes cost wholesale food suppliers far more than the five minutes it takes to edit the order: they interrupt picking, reshuffle delivery runs, waste short-shelf-life stock and pull owners into reconciliation work. The fix is a published, system-enforced cut-off, a clear late-change policy and data on who is causing the changes.
Read more: Why Last-Minute Order Changes Are Costing Your Wholesale Business More Than You Think
September 2, 2026

The RBA Card-Surcharge Ban From 1 October 2026: What It Means for Food Suppliers and Venues

By Geoff Philcox 路 Industry & verticals
Australian food wholesaler taking a card payment on a terminal at a delivery van with produce crates in the background
From 1 October 2026 businesses in Australia cannot add a card surcharge to eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or American Express payments. The RBA's Conclusions Paper of 31 March 2026 ended surcharging on debit and credit cards, cut interchange caps and added fee transparency rules. Suppliers who charge a card fee must remove it and move the cost elsewhere.
Read more: The RBA Card-Surcharge Ban From 1 October 2026: What It Means for Food Suppliers and Venues
September 2, 2026

Ordermentum Alternatives: What Wholesale Food Suppliers Are Using Instead

By Geoff Philcox 路 Comparisons & alternatives
Wholesale food supplier owner comparing ordering platform options on a laptop at a warehouse bench beside crates of produce
The main Ordermentum alternatives fall into three groups: marketplace platforms that emphasise buyer discovery, purpose-built operations platforms that focus on picking, delivery and invoicing, and generic wholesale tools adapted for food. Which suits you depends on whether you are still buying customer acquisition or already own your customer book.
Read more: Ordermentum Alternatives: What Wholesale Food Suppliers Are Using Instead
July 13, 2026

How to Set Minimum Order Values Without Losing Customers

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Order capture & cut-offs
Woman checking packages beside a laptop in a bright office.
Set minimum order values by working out the true cost to serve each account, then applying different thresholds by customer type, delivery zone, order frequency or average spend. Offer a small order surcharge as an alternative to blocking the order, keep exceptions dated, communicate the policy early and let your ordering platform enforce it automatically.
Read more: How to Set Minimum Order Values Without Losing Customers
July 2, 2026

Get Restaurant Customers to Order Online, Not by Phone.

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Order capture & cut-offs
Chef using a cellphone to order ingredients online.
Customers keep phoning because it feels faster than your portal, so fix the friction before blaming habits. Make the portal mobile-friendly and personalised, train your top five customers first, use cut-off times as a reliability incentive, turn check-in calls into onboarding moments, and show customers the order history and spend data they gain.
Read more: Get Restaurant Customers to Order Online, Not by Phone.
June 24, 2026

When Is the Right Time to Invest in Wholesale Supplier Software?

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Reporting & operations
A smiling man using laptop with fresh produce in the background.
The right time to invest in wholesale supplier software is slightly before the pressure becomes critical, not during a crisis. Signs the window is open include processing more than about 20 orders a week manually, adding customers regularly, several people touching orders, considering an admin hire, or a bad month for errors.
Read more: When Is the Right Time to Invest in Wholesale Supplier Software?
June 23, 2026

The Real Cost of Manual Order Management in a Wholesale Food Business

By Gelou Jimeno 路 AI order entry & automation
Manager handling manual order paperwork.
Manual order management costs a wholesale food business across five areas: admin time, order errors, a growth ceiling, hidden customer churn and opportunity cost. Two hours a day of order admin equals roughly $14,560 to $18,200 a year, and a 3% error rate on 100 orders a week can add $7,500 to $15,000 more.
Read more: The Real Cost of Manual Order Management in a Wholesale Food Business
June 21, 2026

How to Choose Wholesale Supplier Software: 7 Questions to Ask Before You Commit

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Comparisons & alternatives
Laptop showing wholesale order software beside a checklist and fresh produce.
Before committing to wholesale supplier software, ask seven questions: was it built for food or adapted, can customers use it unaided on a phone, does it handle order to pick to pack to deliver, will it sync with Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks, what does support look like, will it scale, and what is the full first-year cost.
Read more: How to Choose Wholesale Supplier Software: 7 Questions to Ask Before You Commit
June 20, 2026

Signs Your Wholesale Food Business Has Outgrown Spreadsheets

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Reporting & operations
Illustration of a crowded spreadsheet with highlighted error cells and a red cross.
Your spreadsheet is not broken; the business has outgrown it. The warning signs are maintaining the sheet taking more time than running orders, rising untraceable errors, staff keeping shadow copies, orders arriving on every channel, basic questions being hard to answer, cut-off times slipping, and only one person able to operate it safely.
Read more: Signs Your Wholesale Food Business Has Outgrown Spreadsheets
June 18, 2026

Why Customer-Specific Pricing Is Essential for Supplier Profitability

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Pricing, catalogues & promotions
Illustration of three customer cards, each with its own price list and price tag.
Customer-specific pricing lets suppliers match price to the commercial relationship, rewarding volume while protecting margin on smaller accounts. It only works when it is controlled: prices held in spreadsheets, emails or staff memory drift, and drifting prices mean unreliable margins, invoice disputes and discounts that continue long after they should have ended.
Read more: Why Customer-Specific Pricing Is Essential for Supplier Profitability
June 17, 2026

How Delivery Run Optimisation Saves Suppliers Time and Money

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Delivery & logistics
Illustration of a delivery van at a food warehouse with an optimised route map above.
Delivery run optimisation uses live order data to build routes around suburbs, postcodes, delivery windows, vehicle capacity, driver availability, warehouse readiness and traffic. It lowers fuel and vehicle costs, shortens driver days, gives chefs consistent delivery times, organises pick lists by run, reduces failed deliveries and produces cleaner invoices with fewer disputes.
Read more: How Delivery Run Optimisation Saves Suppliers Time and Money
June 15, 2026

How To Transition A Warehouse From Paper Pick Slips To Digital Picking

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Warehouse, picking & fulfilment
Man using a tablet in a warehouse.
Move a warehouse from paper pick slips to digital picking in eight steps: map the existing workflow, clean the order data, train staff on the basics, run paper and digital together for one to two weeks, adopt zone or run-based picking, connect picking to delivery and invoicing, use the live data, then retire paper with support in place.
Read more: How To Transition A Warehouse From Paper Pick Slips To Digital Picking
June 14, 2026

Digital Picking for Wholesale Food Suppliers

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Warehouse, picking & fulfilment
Illustration of warehouse pickers using a tablet and picking cartons from racking.
Digital picking replaces paper pick slips with live pick lists that update in real time, organise products automatically, record substitutions and shortages, sync with delivery runs and support faster invoicing. Suppliers move across in eight steps, starting with the warehouse workflow rather than the software and keeping paper as a fallback briefly.
Read more: Digital Picking for Wholesale Food Suppliers
June 12, 2026

The Real Cost of Manual Order Entry for Foodservice Suppliers

By Gelou Jimeno 路 AI order entry & automation
A problematic supplier holding his head.
Manual order entry costs foodservice suppliers far more than the typing. Re-keying orders from email, SMS, WhatsApp and handwritten notes creates wrong pack sizes, incorrect quantities, missed notes and pricing mistakes, consumes admin labour, slows the warehouse, buries orders across channels and makes growth depend on adding admin hours.
Read more: The Real Cost of Manual Order Entry for Foodservice Suppliers
June 11, 2026

The Link Between Picking Accuracy and Customer Retention

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Warehouse, picking & fulfilment
Worker picking items from warehouse shelves with a clipboard.
Picking accuracy is a retention strategy, not just a warehouse metric. Chefs plan prep around orders arriving correctly, and most kitchens will not complain twice; they reduce orders or move on. Centralised orders, live digital pick lists, customer-specific catalogues and digitally recorded substitutions remove the causes of mispicks.
Read more: The Link Between Picking Accuracy and Customer Retention
June 9, 2026

Why Digital Ordering Makes Chefs Happier and More Loyal

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Customer growth & retention
Smiling chef holding white tea cup.
Chefs are not avoiding technology; they avoid ordering that feels slow, confusing or unreliable. Digital ordering makes them happier by cutting the time to reorder regular items, reducing errors through structured product information, giving visibility over pricing and delivery, staying consistent every week, and making stock issues quicker to resolve.
Read more: Why Digital Ordering Makes Chefs Happier and More Loyal
June 8, 2026

Why Chefs Prefer Digital Ordering Over Calls, Texts and Emails

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Order capture & cut-offs
A chef holding a tablet.
Chefs are not against technology; they are against tools that slow them down. Once they try a well-designed ordering system, most prefer it for five reasons: fast reordering at any hour, fewer errors from a structured product list, visibility over orders and pricing, predictable service, and quicker resolution when something is short.
Read more: Why Chefs Prefer Digital Ordering Over Calls, Texts and Emails
June 6, 2026

How to Reduce Order Errors Without Hiring More Staff

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Warehouse, picking & fulfilment
Staffs working inside the warehouse.
Order errors come from a fragile workflow, not careless staff. Suppliers cut them without hiring by centralising every order channel into one system, giving each customer a personalised catalogue, running digital pick lists that update with changes, recording substitutions and shortages digitally, invoicing from proof of delivery, and reviewing weekly error trends.
Read more: How to Reduce Order Errors Without Hiring More Staff
June 5, 2026

Wholesale Food Ordering Automation Guide (2026)

By Gelou Jimeno 路 AI order entry & automation
Man wearing black apron writing on a notebook.
This guide sets out seven parts of the wholesale ordering workflow suppliers should automate: order intake consolidation, customer-specific pricing and product visibility, cut-off reminders and confirmations, pick list generation, delivery run planning, digital proof of delivery with automated invoicing, and reporting. Together they cut admin, protect margins and support growth without extra headcount.
Read more: Wholesale Food Ordering Automation Guide (2026)
June 3, 2026

The Hidden Cost of Spreadsheets for Wholesale Suppliers

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Reporting & operations
Stressed worker checking an inventory spreadsheet with error pop-ups.
Spreadsheets feel free, but in wholesale foodservice they cost margin leakage from prices that drift, order entry errors that ripple through the warehouse, version chaos across multiple sources of truth, key-person dependency, delayed invoicing and slower cash collection, and stock counts that drift far enough to cause oversells and emergency buying.
Read more: The Hidden Cost of Spreadsheets for Wholesale Suppliers
June 2, 2026

How to Transition Restaurant Customers to Digital Ordering

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Order capture & cut-offs
Chef checking inventory on a tablet in a commercial kitchen.
Digital ordering rollouts fail on implementation, not technology. Move restaurant customers across with a low-friction approach: a mobile-first system that remembers favourites and past orders, a soft transition rather than a hard cutover, personalised onboarding, benefits framed as time saved, close attention in the first weeks, then phasing manual channels out.
Read more: How to Transition Restaurant Customers to Digital Ordering
May 31, 2026

How Centralised Orders Improve Warehouse Efficiency Fast

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Warehouse, picking & fulfilment
Busy warehouse with fresh produce and staff.
Centralising orders into one digital platform is among the fastest ways to lift warehouse efficiency, often within days. It standardises order formatting, syncs office and warehouse in real time, generates pick lists by run or zone, eases the morning rush, gives drivers accurate run sheets, matches invoices to deliveries and improves stock accuracy.
Read more: How Centralised Orders Improve Warehouse Efficiency Fast
May 30, 2026

How Suppliers Can Use Data to Increase Sales Without Hiring More Reps

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Reporting & operations
Illustration of a map of customer locations and a sales chart.
Wholesale suppliers can grow revenue from the order data they already hold rather than by hiring reps. Three measures do most of the work: customer activity trends, product performance and category contribution. Used together they flag at-risk accounts early, surface cross-sell opportunities, sharpen stock planning and focus attention where revenue is actually moving.
Read more: How Suppliers Can Use Data to Increase Sales Without Hiring More Reps
May 28, 2026

What Restaurant Buyers Expect From Suppliers in 2026

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Customer growth & retention
A woman chef standing proudly in a kitchen.
Restaurant buyers in 2026 expect ordering that works whenever they do, pricing that matches agreed rates and shows at checkout, real-time stock visibility, clear delivery communication, transparency about changes and credits, flexible automated payments, detailed product information, and the operating speed of a logistics business.
Read more: What Restaurant Buyers Expect From Suppliers in 2026
May 27, 2026

How to Build a Digital Product Catalogue That Increases Buyer Spend

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Pricing, catalogues & promotions
Illustration of a digital product catalogue on a tablet with product tiles and a cart icon.
A digital product catalogue is a supplier's storefront and shapes how much chefs buy. The elements that lift spend are clear descriptive product names, high-quality images, logical categories and subcategories, fast search and filters, customer-specific visibility and customer-specific pricing. Many suppliers see average order value rise 10 to 25% after upgrading it.
Read more: How to Build a Digital Product Catalogue That Increases Buyer Spend
May 25, 2026

The Supplier鈥檚 Guide to Getting Paid Faster with Automated Invoicing

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Accounting, invoicing & payments
Illustration of a laptop invoice list and a printer producing invoices with a tick.
Automated invoicing helps foodservice suppliers get paid faster by removing the friction that delays payment. Invoices are generated from the confirmed order so they are accurate, sent the moment delivery is confirmed, followed by scheduled reminders, collected by direct debit or card, synced to Xero or MYOB, and visible to customers in a portal.
Read more: The Supplier鈥檚 Guide to Getting Paid Faster with Automated Invoicing
May 24, 2026

Next Steps: Connect Open Pantry to Xero

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Accounting, invoicing & payments
Illustration of two laptops syncing orders and accounting reports.
Open Pantry stays the operational source of truth for products, customer pricing, ordering and payments, while Xero remains the financial record. Orders export to Xero as draft sales invoices for you to approve. Set-up covers seeding contacts and items, account code and tax mapping, and product and customer matching rules.
Read more: Next Steps: Connect Open Pantry to Xero
May 22, 2026

Next Steps: Connect Open Pantry to MYOB (MYOB Business / AccountRight)

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Accounting, invoicing & payments
Illustration of invoices flowing from a tablet into accounting software on a laptop.
Open Pantry stays the operational source of truth for products, customer pricing and ordering, while MYOB Business or AccountRight keeps the accounting record. Orders export to MYOB as sales invoices. Setting up covers seeding customers and items, mapping income categories and tax codes, and confirming product and customer matching rules.
Read more: Next Steps: Connect Open Pantry to MYOB (MYOB Business / AccountRight)
May 21, 2026

Customer-Specific Pricing for Food Suppliers Made Simple

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Pricing, catalogues & promotions
Illustration of a large price tag between pallets of fresh produce crates.
Customer-specific pricing turns into chaos when it lives in spreadsheets and email threads: conflicting versions, staff unsure which price is right, and margin leaking unnoticed. Centralising pricing gives one master table that updates ordering, pick lists, invoices and accounting at once, with exceptions, group pricing, contract expiry dates and change logs.
Read more: Customer-Specific Pricing for Food Suppliers Made Simple
May 19, 2026

Next Steps: Connect Open Pantry to QuickBooks Online (QBO)

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Accounting, invoicing & payments
Illustration of an accounting ledger with ticked lines syncing with an order app on a phone.
Open Pantry remains the operational source of truth for products, customer pricing and ordering, while QuickBooks Online keeps invoicing, receivables, reconciliation and reporting. Orders export to QBO as unsent invoices that you review and send. Setup covers seeding, income account and sales tax mapping, and product and customer matching rules.
Read more: Next Steps: Connect Open Pantry to QuickBooks Online (QBO)
May 18, 2026

Inventory Management for Food Suppliers: Fix Stock Errors

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Reporting & operations
A person using a scanner on a bottle of wine.
Stock errors in foodservice supply come from manual stocktakes, picking without updating quantities, unrecorded substitutions, stock held in several locations, phone and SMS orders never entered, and pack breaks or weight variation. Digital inventory linked to orders, picking and delivery keeps counts current and prevents overselling, emergency buying and wasted labour.
Read more: Inventory Management for Food Suppliers: Fix Stock Errors
May 16, 2026

Wholesale Order Management for Foodservice Suppliers

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Order capture & cut-offs
A man holding a tablet, with boxes of fresh produce on the background.
Wholesale order management covers every step from order capture to payment: validating products and pricing, booking delivery, generating picking workflows, dispatch, proof of delivery and invoicing. Running those steps in one digital platform, rather than across email and spreadsheets, cuts errors and speeds fulfilment for foodservice suppliers.
Read more: Wholesale Order Management for Foodservice Suppliers
May 15, 2026

How Wholesale Food Suppliers Can Eliminate Manual Orders Forever

By Gelou Jimeno 路 AI order entry & automation
A man holding a tablet in a cold storage room full of meat.
Suppliers eliminate manual orders by giving customers a structured digital ordering app and converting the email and SMS stragglers with a manual order transformation tool. Both paths produce the same structured order that flows into picking, delivery, invoicing and reporting, cutting admin time by 30 to 50 per cent.
Read more: How Wholesale Food Suppliers Can Eliminate Manual Orders Forever
May 3, 2026

Cut Delivery Mistakes by 80% with Order Management Software

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Delivery & logistics
Illustration of a warehouse worker checking a tablet beside a refrigerated truck, with a delivery list above.
Order management software can cut delivery mistakes by up to 80 per cent by automating order processing, synchronising inventory in real time, prioritising urgent orders, coordinating carriers and standardising returns. It also flags discrepancies such as wrong addresses or duplicate orders before a shipment ever leaves the warehouse.
Read more: Cut Delivery Mistakes by 80% with Order Management Software
April 25, 2026

How Suppliers Can Boost Distribution with Order Transparency

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Reporting & operations
A man conducting inventory in a warehouse while holding a tablet to record stock data.
Digital order visibility rests on three pillars: traceability by lot, batch and expiry date; accountability through a single record of who ordered what, when and from where; and data-driven decisions from live sales, supplier and inventory trends. Together they help wholesalers stay compliant, cut waste and forecast demand.
Read more: How Suppliers Can Boost Distribution with Order Transparency
April 24, 2026

Suppliers: Food Safety Starts with Your Inventory System

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Warehouse, picking & fulfilment
Two men in a warehouse full of fruits and vegetables.
Food safety for wholesale suppliers starts with the inventory system. Recording supplier name, batch number and expiry date, tracking stock across cold rooms and delivery routes, applying first in first out handling and generating audit reports automatically gives full traceability, easier compliance, fewer manual errors and better oversight of suppliers.
Read more: Suppliers: Food Safety Starts with Your Inventory System
April 22, 2026

Why Wholesale Suppliers Need Branded Online Ordering Apps? (and How to Get One Fast)

By Geoff Philcox 路 Order capture & cut-offs
Illustration of two phones showing a supplier's branded ordering app beside crates of produce.
A branded online ordering app lets wholesale customers buy directly from you rather than through a marketplace that shares your customer data and lists competitors beside your products. Suppliers keep control of pricing, branding and customer data, avoid marketplace commissions, and report an average 24 per cent increase in order value.
Read more: Why Wholesale Suppliers Need Branded Online Ordering Apps? (and How to Get One Fast)
April 21, 2026

How Order Management Software Drives Speed for Suppliers

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Order capture & cut-offs
Illustration of a refrigerated truck and crates moving at speed past a clock.
Order management software makes suppliers faster by capturing self-service orders instantly, validating and routing them automatically, running approvals through automated workflows, confirming stock in real time, and integrating with warehouse and logistics systems so pick-and-pack and shipping documents happen without manual handling.
Read more: How Order Management Software Drives Speed for Suppliers
April 16, 2026

Implementing a Purchase Order System: A Step-by-Step Guide

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Reporting & operations
Man and woman looking at a tablet and discussing in a warehouse.
Implementing a purchase order system in food wholesale runs across eleven steps: analyse current buying, define outcomes, choose software built for high SKU volume, set roles and permissions, standardise the PO format, build tiered approval workflows, integrate inventory and finance, train by role, pilot, review performance, then use the system for audit readiness.
Read more: Implementing a Purchase Order System: A Step-by-Step Guide
April 9, 2026

Purchase Order Management Systems: Cost vs. Benefits for Suppliers

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Reporting & operations
A woman standing inside a warehouse, holding a box while talking on the phone.
A purchase order management system costs software subscription or licensing, integration work, training, maintenance, data migration and compliance budget. Against that, it removes manual data entry errors, adds real-time visibility, speeds approvals, keeps automated audit trails and cuts the wasted resources and stockpiling that manual procurement causes.
Read more: Purchase Order Management Systems: Cost vs. Benefits for Suppliers
April 7, 2026

馃殌 Free Download: Wholesale Supplier Growth Playbook 2026

By Geoff Philcox 路 Company & product news
Illustration of a printed growth playbook for wholesale suppliers with a download icon.
The Wholesale Supplier Growth Playbook 2026 is a free download covering practical strategies for scaling a wholesale business, including customer acquisition, digital marketing and automation. It is aimed at suppliers growing from a standing start toward $100M and more in annual recurring revenue, and is accessed through a download form.
Read more: 馃殌 Free Download: Wholesale Supplier Growth Playbook 2026
April 4, 2026

Why Linking Your PO System with ERP is a Game-Changer

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Reporting & operations
A girl holding a phone.
Linking a purchase order system to an ERP removes duplicate data entry and synchronises procurement, inventory and finance in real time. For food suppliers that means fewer pricing and duplicate-order errors, automated reconciliation of orders, invoices and payments, live stock and expiry visibility, and processes that scale across multiple sites.
Read more: Why Linking Your PO System with ERP is a Game-Changer
April 3, 2026

ERP vs. Standalone Purchase Order Management: Pros & Cons

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Comparisons & alternatives
A man using a POS.
An ERP integrates procurement, inventory, finance and logistics in one system and suits large food suppliers with complex supply chains, while standalone purchase order software handles procurement alone, costs less and deploys faster, which suits smaller suppliers wanting a practical procurement fix without a months-long rollout.
Read more: ERP vs. Standalone Purchase Order Management: Pros & Cons
April 1, 2026

Inventory Order Management Software: Costs vs. Benefits

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Warehouse, picking & fulfilment
A man using a tablet and a bar code scanner to take inventory.
Inventory order management software carries upfront licensing, implementation and training costs, but replaces the hidden costs of manual tracking: labour on stock counts, data entry errors causing stockouts and overstocking, food waste from expired perishables, lost productivity and slow decisions from outdated data.
Read more: Inventory Order Management Software: Costs vs. Benefits
March 31, 2026

Online Purchase Order Systems: A Guide for Food Suppliers

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Reporting & operations
A man using a tablet to check inventory in a warehouse.
An online purchase order system documents and tracks every purchase between a food supplier and its buyers. Its core features are real-time inventory tracking with FIFO and FEFO support, vendor management, customisable templates, batch and expiry tracking, reporting and analytics, multi-device cloud access and ERP integration.
Read more: Online Purchase Order Systems: A Guide for Food Suppliers
March 29, 2026

Sustainable Procurement: Smarter POs for a Greener Future

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Reporting & operations
Illustration of stacked reusable produce crates on a pallet with plants and a leaf icon.
Sustainable procurement uses digital purchase order management to cut environmental impact: removing paper requisitions, approvals and archiving, improving inventory forecasting so less food spoils, consolidating shipments and optimising routes to lower emissions, and giving visibility into which suppliers actually meet sustainability standards.
Read more: Sustainable Procurement: Smarter POs for a Greener Future
March 28, 2026

Debunking Myths: PO Systems Aren鈥檛 Just for Big Enterprise

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Reporting & operations
Illustration of a small food wholesaler's warehouse next to a tablet showing a ticked purchase order.
Purchase order systems are not just for large enterprises. Five myths hold small and medium businesses back: that POs suit only big companies, that implementation is expensive and complicated, that simple purchases do not need them, that they slow purchasing down, and that they are irrelevant to service-based businesses.
Read more: Debunking Myths: PO Systems Aren鈥檛 Just for Big Enterprise
March 25, 2026

Why Food Suppliers Lose Money on Inventory and How to Fix It

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Reporting & operations
A woman disposing of food waste onto a pile of rotten vegetables.
Food suppliers lose money on inventory through poor tracking, perishability, forecasting errors, inefficient storage, supply chain disruptions, outdated manual processes and untrained staff. Each has a practical fix, from automated cloud tracking and FIFO rotation to AI forecasting, warehouse organisation, supplier diversification and regular staff training.
Read more: Why Food Suppliers Lose Money on Inventory and How to Fix It
March 23, 2026

Master Your Spending with a Purchase Order Management System

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Accounting, invoicing & payments
Illustration of a purchase order, stacks of coins and a wallet, representing control of spending.
A purchase order management system helps food suppliers control spending through real-time budget tracking, structured approval workflows, category and supplier spending limits, automated routine purchases, standardised vendor communication, and accounting integration that keeps expense records accurate and current.
Read more: Master Your Spending with a Purchase Order Management System
March 19, 2026

Why Food Suppliers Are Switching to Digital Order Management

By Geoff Philcox 路 AI order entry & automation
A man in a cafe holding a tablet.
Food suppliers are moving to digital order management because it automates order entry and invoicing, tracks inventory in real time, validates orders to catch errors early, speeds fulfilment, improves customer service, supplies trend data for decisions, and connects with inventory, finance and CRM systems.
Read more: Why Food Suppliers Are Switching to Digital Order Management
March 14, 2026

Best ERPs for Food & Beverage Wholesalers in Australia (2026)

By Geoff Philcox 路 Comparisons & alternatives
Illustration of an ERP hub connected to inventory, delivery, finance, reporting, documents and ordering modules.
The article reviews five ERP systems for food and beverage wholesalers: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, NetSuite, MYOB Acumatica (formerly MYOB Advanced), Odoo and SAP Business One. Each brings inventory, sales, accounting and customer management into one platform, with different strengths by business size and industry.
Read more: Best ERPs for Food & Beverage Wholesalers in Australia (2026)
March 13, 2026

Best Inventory Management Systems for Wholesale Food Suppliers

By Geoff Philcox 路 Comparisons & alternatives
A warehouse supervisor in hi-vis scanning cartons on racking in a food distribution warehouse, with a pallet jack of boxes in the aisle.
The article compares five inventory management systems for wholesale food suppliers: FoodReady, Acumatica, Open Pantry, Linnworks and Cin7 Omni. Each tracks stock in real time and helps reduce waste, with differences in traceability, multi-warehouse support, expiry tracking and sales channel integration.
Read more: Best Inventory Management Systems for Wholesale Food Suppliers
March 7, 2026

Dealing with the Challenges of Distributing Perishable Goods

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Delivery & logistics
A person in gloves is holding shrimp in a container.
Distributing perishable goods brings five recurring challenges: holding freshness and quality, managing complex multi-stage supply chains, coping with seasonal demand swings, meeting health and safety compliance, and running efficiently. The article pairs each with practical controls, from FIFO and temperature monitoring to forecasting and automation.
Read more: Dealing with the Challenges of Distributing Perishable Goods
March 2, 2026

How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis for Your Wholesale Business

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Reporting & operations
Illustration of four planning cards in a two-by-two grid, representing a SWOT analysis for a wholesale business.
A SWOT analysis examines your wholesale business's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Work through it in four steps, then convert the findings into strategy: build on strengths, fix weaknesses, pursue opportunities such as e-commerce and sustainable ranges, and plan around competition and supply chain risk.
Read more: How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis for Your Wholesale Business
February 26, 2026

Best Order Management Systems for Food Suppliers (2026)

By Gelou Jimeno 路 Comparisons & alternatives
Illustration of three order management software screens compared side by side with ticks and crosses.
Three order management systems dominate Australian wholesale food ordering in 2026: Open Pantry, free for suppliers to start with Pro from $149 a month; Ordermentum, free for venues with supplier plans from $200 a month; and Fresho, order-to-invoice software for fresh food wholesalers from $499 a month plus set-up.
Read more: Best Order Management Systems for Food Suppliers (2026)
February 23, 2026

The Benefits of Integrated Order Management for Suppliers and Restaurants

By Gelou Jimeno 路 AI order entry & automation
A woman in a warehouse holding a clipboard and a pen.
An integrated order management system unifies ordering, inventory and communication in one platform. For suppliers it improves demand forecasting, automates processing and lowers operating costs; for restaurants it supports menu planning against live stock, cuts waste and keeps ingredient supply consistent.
Read more: The Benefits of Integrated Order Management for Suppliers and Restaurants
February 17, 2026

The Ultimate Guide to Online Branding for Food Suppliers

By Geoff Philcox 路 Customer growth & retention
Illustration of a phone and social media cards showing a food supplier's products, with a heart icon.
Online branding for food suppliers means building a consistent identity that customers recognise and trust. The guide covers defining a unique selling proposition, telling an authentic brand story, creating a cohesive visual identity, building a usable e-commerce website, showing product quality transparently, and using customer reviews.
Read more: The Ultimate Guide to Online Branding for Food Suppliers
February 12, 2026

3 Challenges Food Suppliers Face (and How Open Pantry Solves Them)

By Geoff Philcox 路 Order capture & cut-offs
A basket of fresh vegetables on a rustic wooden table.
The three challenges wholesale food suppliers face most often are running out of stock or letting it spoil, taking orders by phone, text and email, and tracking customer relationship health. Open Pantry answers each with inventory forecasting, one connected order-to-invoice flow, and a customer risk algorithm.
Read more: 3 Challenges Food Suppliers Face (and How Open Pantry Solves Them)
February 5, 2026

Tips and Tricks to Turn New Customers into Returning Customers

By Geoff Philcox 路 Customer growth & retention
A woman in a black apron holding a tablet, standing at a table with a group of people.
Turning a first order into a lasting account rests on five habits: personalised communication built on order data, fast and courteous service, loyalty rewards, a consistent brand experience, and content that builds a community. Open Pantry's insights tool shows which restaurants to follow up and when.
Read more: Tips and Tricks to Turn New Customers into Returning Customers
January 27, 2026

A Succinct Comparison of Open Pantry, Ordermentum, and Fresho: Everything You Need to Know to Choose a Partner

By Geoff Philcox 路 Comparisons & alternatives
A man using a tablet displaying warehouse automation and warehouse management system in action.
Open Pantry, Ordermentum and Fresho all handle wholesale food ordering but charge very differently. Open Pantry is free for suppliers to start, with Pro from $149 a month. Ordermentum charges venues nothing and suppliers from a $200 a month minimum. Fresho quotes tailored pricing from $499 a month plus a one-off set-up fee.
Read more: A Succinct Comparison of Open Pantry, Ordermentum, and Fresho: Everything You Need to Know to Choose a Partner
January 22, 2026

Tips for Recruiting Top Talent for Your F&B Wholesale Business

By Geoff Philcox 路 Reporting & operations
Illustration of three candidate profile cards with one ticked and a search icon, representing hiring for a food wholesaler.
Recruiting well for a food and beverage wholesale business means identifying the key roles first, writing job descriptions that show the real work, advertising on digital platforms, showing your culture, paying competitively, keeping the interview process short, selecting against clear criteria, and training people once they arrive.
Read more: Tips for Recruiting Top Talent for Your F&B Wholesale Business
January 18, 2026

Sustainable Food Distribution with Wholesale Order Management Software

By Geoff Philcox 路 Delivery & logistics
A man wearing a blue jacket holding a box of strawberries in a factory.
Food distribution generates emissions from transport, waste from single-use packaging, and spoilage across the chain. Wholesale order management software reduces all three by forecasting demand accurately, replacing paper picking and invoices, optimising delivery runs, and making sourcing decisions visible.
Read more: Sustainable Food Distribution with Wholesale Order Management Software
January 16, 2026

Best Practices for Implementing a Wholesale Order Management System for Your Food Business,

By Geoff Philcox 路 Order capture & cut-offs
Two chefs happily smiling in a kitchen.
Implementing a wholesale order management system starts with assessing where your current process actually hurts, then choosing a system that fixes the most pain points for the least cost. Prioritise end-to-end order automation, real-time warehouse control, and integration with the restaurants you serve.
Read more: Best Practices for Implementing a Wholesale Order Management System for Your Food Business,
January 15, 2026

Mastering the Art of Pricing in a Volatile Market: Wholesalers Guide

By Geoff Philcox 路 Pricing, catalogues & promotions
A wholesaler marking up a printed price sheet beside a calculator and a crate of tomatoes in a produce warehouse office.
Pricing through volatile costs comes down to five moves: raise prices gradually so customers absorb them, delay reductions and then cut in noticeable jumps, tell customers about changes in advance, lock a margin rather than a price, and read market indicators to anticipate the next shift.
Read more: Mastering the Art of Pricing in a Volatile Market: Wholesalers Guide
January 12, 2026

Strategies to Grow Your B2B Wholesale Food & Beverage Supply Business

By Matthew Galea 路 Customer growth & retention
Illustration of rising columns topped with crates of fresh produce and an upward arrow, showing a wholesale business growing.
Melbourne chefs Ishy Patel and Andrew Braham say they choose suppliers on honesty, reliability, quality and provenance, personal rapport, adaptability, ethical sourcing, efficient technology and negotiable pricing. Suppliers who build around those nine values, and use technology to support them, win and keep the work.
Read more: Strategies to Grow Your B2B Wholesale Food & Beverage Supply Business
January 9, 2026

Pricing for Success: 5 Key Strategies for Wholesalers in the Food & Beverage Industry

By Matthew Galea 路 Pricing, catalogues & promotions
Illustration of a wholesaler's desk with a price list, a laptop showing product prices, price tags and crates of produce.
Price a wholesale range by tier rather than across the board: compete hard on fast-moving core items chefs compare, take a reasonable margin on medium-volume lines, and charge a premium on rarely ordered specialities. Separate delivery charges and compete on quality rather than price alone.
Read more: Pricing for Success: 5 Key Strategies for Wholesalers in the Food & Beverage Industry

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