When Dutch Country Cheese started mapping out the next stage of their growth, they knew they needed more than spreadsheets and QuickBooks to carry the load.
The plan was ambitious.
They wanted to run all operations in house, expand their wholesale operation, and eventually open a full retail experience. That growth would add new layers to their business, and the tools they were using would only work for a limited time.
As Mel Lapp put it, “QuickBooks is great for simple stuff. But once you get into more complex inventory management, it doesn’t always work. It’s easiest to have it all in one system.”
Dutch Country Cheese did not adopt ERP all at once, but their transition began with a clear long-term goal: bring operations in house, tighten control of inventory, and build a system that could support both wholesale growth and a future retail presence.
In the beginning, a third-party handled all order fulfillment. Dutch Country would send them the cheese where they would cut it, pack it, and ship it out. Because of this hand-off, every order started as a QuickBooks estimate that was converted to an invoice after the work was done. And since that external team lived in QuickBooks, keeping orders in that system was the practical choice.
Inside the business, however, Dutch Country Cheese was preparing for the next stage.
“We knew we wanted to bring everything in house eventually,” Mel said. “So we set up Koble’s ERP for purchasing, finances, and reporting long before we went live for order fulfillment.”
This allowed them to build a solid foundation while avoiding unnecessary disruption to the third-party team. Then, when their new cooler and warehouse opened, they were ready. They moved the entire fulfillment process in house, switched fully to Koble’s ERP (EBMS) for order entry and invoicing, and began operating end to end in a single system.
“If you know you want to grow, it is best to put an ERP in place,” Mel explained. “Switching systems later is a pain.”
One of the biggest reasons Mel chose EBMS was the flexibility to make the system fit their processes instead of forcing their processes to fit the software.
“EBMS has the flexibility to create processes with customizations as needed,” he said. “Even if it is not in the system now, it can be built.”
Dutch Country Cheese relies heavily on lot tracking, GS1-128 barcodes, and accurate weights. These details are essential when you are shipping thousands of pounds of cheese, and off-the-shelf tools often fall short. EBMS does not include a built-in app for this type of barcode picking, but it does provide an API and a structure that make it easy to build and connect your own tools.
Being a systems guy, Mel did exactly that.
He created a web-based picking app to:
“The barcode has the UPC, the weight, the pack date, and the lot number all in one,” he explained. “After they pick, they hit submit and it sends everything back through the API."
What would have required stacks of paper, manual entry, or clunky workarounds is now a clean and purpose-built tool that ties directly into their ERP.
“EBMS is flexible,” says Mel. “You can create custom processes as needed, so I’d recommend it to anyone who needs that.”
That is a strength of EBMS; it’s flexible enough for someone like Mel to build his own solution that connects in with the API. And for companies that want the same level of control without needing to build it themselves, they can work with Koble’s customizations team. System adaptability is the difference between wrestling with software and having a system that truly matches the way your operation runs.
Dutch Country Cheese is on track for significant growth. They are expanding wholesale while also preparing a retail storefront at their new location as a full customer experience center.
Because they invested early in a system that matches their pace, their software does not limit their future. Flexibility is now one of their biggest advantages as they grow into new products, new spaces, and new customer experiences.
To learn more about Dutch Country Cheese (and to shop their products), visit their website at dutchcountrycheese.com