Jason Stockton - The Supply’d Blog – Smarter Operations for Food & Retail

Jason Stockton

2026 Operations Outlook: From "Busy" to "Data-Driven"

2026 Operations Outlook: From "Busy" to "Data-Driven"

If 2024 was about survival and 2025 was about stabilising, 2026 is the year of precision. The era of scaling by "throwing bodies at the problem" is officially over. Labour is too expensive, and margins are too tight. The most successful food businesses in 2026 aren't

How to Get Your Head Chef to Love Your ERP

How to Get Your Head Chef to Love Your ERP

Let’s be honest. If you walk into a busy kitchen at 5 AM and try to hand your Head Chef a laptop, you’re going to get "The Look." You know the one. It’s the look that says: "I have 400 loaves to bake, two

Order Management Systems for Food: Taming the Inbox

Order Management Systems for Food: Taming the Inbox

If you run a food business, you know the pain: orders streaming in from everywhere — email, web stores, wholesale portals, POS systems — and all at once. By 10am, your inbox feels like it’s on fire. That’s where an Order Management System (OMS) steps in. It doesn’t just

Supply’d V5.0: Stores, Custom Layouts & Flexible Orders

Supply’d V5.0: Stores, Custom Layouts & Flexible Orders

Version 5.0 introduces some of our biggest updates yet — a refreshed menu and checkout experience, the long-awaited Stores feature, and major behind-the-scenes improvements to orders, favourites, and integrations.

Warehouse Management Systems for Food: Why They’re Different

Warehouse Management Systems for Food: Why They’re Different

Running a food warehouse isn’t just about knowing what’s on the shelf. You need to know which batch, which date code, and exactly where it’s gone. A proper Warehouse Management System (WMS) turns that chaos into calm: staff scan, labels print, and orders move seamlessly from production

What Are Operational COGS — and Why Should You Care?

What Are Operational COGS — and Why Should You Care?

Not all costs are created equal. If you’re running a food business, chances are you’re spending more time in the kitchen, warehouse, or delivery van than inside your accounting software. That’s why understanding Operational COGS (the real costs behind making and delivering your product) is critical to

Your ERP Should Be Quietly Working in the Background

Your ERP Should Be Quietly Working in the Background

There’s a moment every ops lead knows too well. The shift’s barely started, and you’ve already got three fires to put out. A customer’s standing order is late. There’s a question about production priorities. Someone’s waiting on a PO. And in the middle of

Introducing Supply’d Intelligence: Finally, a System That Understands Your Business

Introducing Supply’d Intelligence: Finally, a System That Understands Your Business

You know that feeling when the order volume spikes, a supplier sends the wrong stock, and the production team is asking what to make next — all before you’ve finished your first coffee? Most software doesn’t get that. Supply’d Intelligence does, and it comes out of the box

Supply’d V4.10: Smarter Orders, Smarter Production, Smarter Everything

Supply’d V4.10: Smarter Orders, Smarter Production, Smarter Everything

Supply’d V4.10 brings smarter purchasing, production planning, and order automation. New dashboards, customer controls, and Xero updates make this our most powerful release yet — designed to reduce admin and give you more control.

On the Foodpreneurs Podcast: Fixing the Hidden Costs of Growth

On the Foodpreneurs Podcast: Fixing the Hidden Costs of Growth

I recently joined Chelsea Ford on the Foodpreneurs Podcast, alongside Ross Galettis from Madhouse Bakehouse — one of our amazing Supply’d clients — to talk about something every founder feels but few talk about openly: The hidden costs that slowly eat away at your margins. In this episode, we unpack how

Generic ERP vs Industry-Specific: Why Going Niche Pays Off for Food Businesses

Generic ERP vs Industry-Specific: Why Going Niche Pays Off for Food Businesses

When food businesses start shopping for an ERP, they often end up in the same spot — staring down a long list of big-name, generic platforms that promise to “do it all.” But here’s the thing: what works for a furniture supplier or a parts distributor rarely works for a

Stop Assuming Labour Costs — It’s Hurting Your Margin

Stop Assuming Labour Costs — It’s Hurting Your Margin

There’s a strange epidemic going around in food manufacturing and bakery circles. It’s the assumption that labour is “about 20%.” We hear it all the time: * “The team starts at 1am and finishes at 9am, so we’ve got a rough idea.” * “It all evens out over time.

What to Look for in an ERP if You're Scaling Fast

What to Look for in an ERP if You're Scaling Fast

If your food business is growing quickly — more SKUs, more channels, more complexity — you’ll hit a breaking point. The spreadsheets crack. The whiteboards aren’t updated. And your “just wing it” systems? They start costing you time, money, and sanity. That’s when you start looking for an ERP.

Your First ERP Implementation? Here’s What to Expect

Your First ERP Implementation? Here’s What to Expect

If you’re considering your first ERP system, you might be feeling a mix of excitement… and dread. You’re not alone. ERP software has a reputation: expensive, complicated, disruptive. But that reputation comes from platforms that were built decades ago — for businesses with IT departments and in-house consultants. It

Supply’d V4.9: Department Control, Product Tools, and a Lot Less Noise

Supply’d V4.9: Department Control, Product Tools, and a Lot Less Noise

Version 4.9 is here — and it’s all about clarity, control, and cutting out clutter. Whether you’re running a multi-team bakery, managing separate grocery departments, or just tired of outdated import templates, this release makes managing your operations smoother than ever. Here’s what’s new. New: Department

Why Your Tech Stack Should Talk to Each Other

Why Your Tech Stack Should Talk to Each Other

Let’s say you use Xero for accounting. Shopify for ecommerce. Square for POS. Starshipit for shipping. And spreadsheets for… well, everything in between. That’s fine — until they stop talking to each other. And suddenly, you’re doing the same job twice, chasing info across tabs, or worse — making

How Much Manual Admin Is Costing Your Business

How Much Manual Admin Is Costing Your Business

Every business has admin. But in food manufacturing, grocery, and wholesale, admin piles up fast. Invoices to match. Orders to confirm. Stock to count. Prices to update. Labels to print. And too often, these tasks are done manually — with spreadsheets, sticky notes, inboxes and memory. It feels manageable… until you

ERP vs WMS vs Inventory Software – What’s the Difference?

ERP vs WMS vs Inventory Software – What’s the Difference?

If you're running a growing food business, you've probably Googled a few acronyms lately. ERP, WMS, IMS… it’s enough to make your head spin. Do you need all three? Just one? Which does what? Let’s break it down — simply and practically — so you can

What’s New in Supply’d V4.8: Smarter Planning, Easier Recalls & Invoice Automation

What’s New in Supply’d V4.8: Smarter Planning, Easier Recalls & Invoice Automation

Our latest release — Supply’d V4.8 — is packed with powerful new tools to help you run tighter operations with less effort. From smarter production planning to seamless invoice matching and instant recall traceability, this update is designed to save you time, reduce admin, and give you even more control.

The One Thing That Changed Everything in My Business

The One Thing That Changed Everything in My Business

When you know your margins and target volumes, the next step is obvious. You need to forecast. I know — it sounds basic. Underwhelming even. I felt the same. Let Me Tell You a Quick Story One of my earlier businesses was struggling. We were probably running at a loss (if

The Truth About Margins in Food: It’s a Volume Game

The Truth About Margins in Food: It’s a Volume Game

When you're building a food brand, it’s easy to fall into the trap of chasing big margins on every product. That was one of the biggest mistakes I made when scaling my own food brand. We thought a high per-unit profit meant we were building a healthy

Best ERP for Food Manufacturers in 2025: What to Look For

Best ERP for Food Manufacturers in 2025: What to Look For

If you’re running a food manufacturing business, you already know how hard it is to stay on top of everything — stock, production, recipes, pricing, compliance, and about a hundred suppliers. That’s why more and more food businesses are turning to ERP systems to get control over their operations.

What’s New in Supply’d V4.7.9: Smarter Pricing, Better Deliveries, and API Access

What’s New in Supply’d V4.7.9: Smarter Pricing, Better Deliveries, and API Access

This release is all about giving you more control — over pricing, deliveries, reporting, and system integrations. From advanced pricing management to API access and delivery routing enhancements, Supply’d V4.7.9 helps you run tighter, smarter operations at scale. Let’s jump in. Advanced Pricing Management Has Landed Managing

You Might Be the Reason Your Staff are Making Mistakes

You Might Be the Reason Your Staff are Making Mistakes

Most business owners and ops managers don’t realise it… But the biggest limitation in your business isn’t your team, your tools, or your margins. It’s human capacity — and the way you’re using it. Let’s break it down with a real-world example that happens every day

Let’s Talk About the Sh*t in the Middle

Let’s Talk About the Sh*t in the Middle

Most businesses are obsessed with the top line. Sales. Growth. New stockists. More orders. More SKUs. More channels. That stuff’s exciting — and it looks great on a pitch deck. But what actually makes or breaks your business? The sh*t in the middle. What’s “the middle,” exactly? It’