Our Best Food & Beverage Blog Posts of 2022: Jumpstart Your New Year and Get Up to Speed

With the new year already well underway, you’re probably moving full-speed ahead on your food and beverage business’s key organizational objectives for 2023. After all, there’s no time to waste in such a competitive and fast-moving industry, and the rising demands of the market combined with a challenging economic climate make resting on your 2022 laurels a critical mistake.

That being said, the pressure to push performance to a higher level can’t be an excuse for not doing your homework. As a veteran professional, you know well the value of research and due diligence, especially considering how quickly the food and beverage space evolves over time—and that’s also true of the technology that supports the vertical.

We know that this is a topic of interest for the vast majority of food business leaders and IT professionals, as 99% of respondents in the survey portion of IDC’s 2022 Global Food and Beverage Industry Trends and Strategic Insights whitepaper indicated that their company is engaged in digital transformation. However, there was considerable variability in the level of maturity that they felt their organization had achieved for that key initiative.

So, knowing that your business could be at just about any stage in your journey to modernization—and that we can all stand to be better prepared for what the next 12 months will bring—we rounded up our top 10 food blog posts of 2022 for your perusal. No matter how close you may be to the ideal tech stack or what specific obstacles you need to overcome, there’s bound to be something here to pique your interest and round out your knowledge of today’s food and beverage world.

Food and Beverage Industry Glossary

While we’ve got plenty of content that goes deep into a particular operational area or technology, even the most veteran of food and beverage professionals can use a refresher on the terminology use in today’s industry. We put together this extensive glossary for that purpose—feel free to leave it open in a separate tab and refer to it when you need a reminder of what the latest terms and acronyms mean.

Peruse the food and beverage industry glossary now.

Food ERP Systems FAQ

Many industry professionals find that once they establish a basic understanding of ERP software for food and beverage manufacturing and the purpose that it serves, they have many more questions—about who in their organization will be able to use it, what training will be required and what the implementation process will entail. We’ve got all those answers and more in this piece.

Get the answers to all you food ERP system FAQs.

5 Food Industry Trends for 2023 that Demand Your Attention

Between rising costs, supply chain disruptions, the rise of big data and many more, the forces shaping today’s industry can push and pull your business in different directions and thus warrant a closer look. Our shortlist of trends goes in-depth on how each can be more easily mitigated or managed with ERP software that’s been developed with food and beverage industry challenges in mind.

Discover the five trends you need to prepare for in this blog.

How to Excel in Allergen Management in the Food Industry

This is the piece for you if you want to achieve your organizational objective of mitigating food safety risks and protecting end consumers from adverse health outcomes. Our blog covers the ingredients with the highest levels of risk, pertinent regulations and critical control points, as well as the features that ERP software offers to aid in this complex task.

Learn how to effectively manage allergens in your supply chain now.

Contract Manufacturing in Food and Beverage: What Is It and How Can It Improve Businesses’ Efficiency and Profitability?

Contract manufacturing—also known as outsourced production—has taken off in popularity over the past couple of years, as demand has fluctuated greatly and companies have needed ways to expand capacity in a flexible fashion. Discover more about this model and its potential to boost productivity and financial outcomes for your brand by reading this piece.

Explore contract manufacturing and the optimal strategy here.

The Top 3 Areas of Focus for Increasing Profitability in the Food and Beverage Industry

There’s a reason that a company’s net profit is referred to as the “bottom line”. At the end of the day, you’re in business to make money; without steady income, you can’t hope to maintain operations as they are—let alone grow. In this piece, we outline three key areas of focus for those organizations that are looking to drive greater revenue and how an ERP can help them succeed in that endeavor.

Find out how to boost your company’s profitability.

Processors and Manufacturers in the Food and Beverage Industry – What’s the Difference?

While the terms “processor” and “manufacturer” are sometimes used interchangeably when referring to businesses operating in the food and beverage industry, the fact of the matter is that they are actually distinct in terms of the nature of their products and what activities they focus on. Get the full scoop and understand the differences, as well as the similarities, in this blog.

Uncover the differences between processors and manufacturers now.

Understanding the Full Lifecycle of Food and Beverage Products

Consumer preferences for food and beverage items can change rapidly, with one variety or category surging this season and another the next. That makes innovative and timely new product development (NPD) a high priority for every company in the industry, so take this chance to brush up on the stages of a product’s lifecycle and how product lifecycle management (PLM) software aids on this front.

Dive into the details of food and beverage product lifecycles.

The Key Components of a Bakery Inventory Management System

Bakeries often work with considerable quantities of a wide variety of ingredients, especially as they scale up and look to serve larger clients and sell to top-tier retailers. With so many materials coming in and out—and many of the most common, like wheat and soy, having allergen concerns—a good inventory management system is crucial. Learn more about the features you need in this piece.

Ace your bakery inventory management with the key components discussed here.

How Data Unlocks Value in a Challenging Food and Beverage Market

“Big data” and analytics is a big deal in the food and beverage industry, and that’s putting it lightly. The facts and figures in your business’s records represent a wealth of knowledge and have the potential to yield invaluable strategic insights for better decision-making. We go in-depth on this topic in this blog and explain how the right food ERP solution can help you make the most out of your information.

Read all about the considerable value of your data.

Aptean: A Proven Provider of Top-Tier Solutions

We hope you found these highlights from last year’s food and beverage content useful in getting up to speed and ready to excel in 2023. There’s still more to engage with in the form of our interactive tools, whitepapers and infographics.

Interactive Tools

• Digital Transformation Assessment for Food & Beverage Businesses

• Food and Beverage Sustainability Quiz

• Food & Beverage Business Systems Health Assessment

• Food and Beverage ERP Request for Proposal (RFP) Template

Whitepapers and eBooks

• Global Food and Beverage Outlook eBook

• Traceability: The Importance of Supply Chain Visibility and the Technologies that Power It

• A Thorough Adoption Process is Crucial for a Successful ERP Implementation

Infographics

• 7 Benefits of PLM Solutions that Drive Better New Product Development

• Build an Agile Food and Beverage Business in 3 Strategic Steps

All of this is part of our continuing commitment to the food and beverage industry, evidenced by our teams’ decades of collective expertise and excellent knowledge of best practices. We are eager to act as a partner to each company on their food ERP selection journey, helping to sketch out a project roadmap for implementation and providing support after the go-live date.

What’s more, we offer and encourage flexible cloud deployments of Aptean Food & Beverage ERP on the Software as a Service (SaaS) model for full scalability, enhanced data protection, stronger cybersecurity and remote accessibility. Plus, our solution is comprised of industry-specific technology built on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central platform, which gives the interface a user-friendly look and feel.

And for one more reason to choose us as the provider for all of your food and beverage business software needs, consider that our offering won Frost and Sullivan’s 2022 Product Leadership in North American ERP Software for the Food and Beverage Industry. That stands as a testament to our system’s quality, reliability and performance and proves that ours is a name to trust.

Now, if you’re ready to learn more about Aptean Food & Beverage ERP and how it can help drive better outcomes for your company, contact us today. You can also request a personalized demo.