Overview

pTutti Gourmet makes a variety of gluten-free and allergy-free snacks and cookies from a highly regulated facility in Quebec. Striving to help their local economy by creating a great work environment, the company produces high quality, specialty foods with a focus on healthier gourmet snacks for every age, dietary restriction and taste bud. By creating flavors that amaze, the company wants to bring truth to the name “tutti”, which is the Italian word for “everyone.” Tutti Gourmet strives to think in creative ways, with the goal of its customers become “insiders” and have the ability to discover all the unique experiences that food has to offer./p

Supernova Award Category

Data to Decisions

The Problem

pTutti Gourmet is rapidly growing, and now serves a loyal customer base that extends across North America and the U.K. The company’s recent, major growth forced it to change its underlying management system—a task that was spearheaded by food safety coordinator Elijah Magrane. Like most people working in the food industry, he had no tech background. His experience is in food science and biological and statistical research. /p p“I consider myself a moderate to advanced Excel user,” says Magrane. “When I came here, everything was done manually by hand—either with paper or by physically entering data into a spreadsheet. So, my first order of business when I started was to overhaul the process.” /p pOriginally, he tried to automate several processes by entering various formulas into an Excel spreadsheet. Tutti Gourmet was using a data entry tool to design mobile business apps. And though this intro to low-code app development, it did not meet their needs, as it was clunky and lacked customization./p

The Solution

pSeeking a better way forward, the Tutti team decided to explore their options. “We looked into several solutions, such as Microsoft Power BI, and finally came across AppSheet,” notes Magrane. “AppSheet was amazing. We were able to use the same Excel sheets we had already been using. It even accepted the formulas I had been using, which was a big deal.” /p pAfter selecting AppSheet, Magrane went to work. “The first thing I did was make a timesheet app for production logs and summaries,” Magrane explains. “It just spiraled from there.”/p pTo date, Magrane’s created roughly 40 apps to handle all kinds of processes: ordering, dealing with suppliers, shipping and receiving, quality control, scheduling audits, project management, password management, and more. /p

The results

pAppSheet turned out to be more than just a tool for Tutti Gourmet. The platform now serves as the underlying engine powering most of the company’s backend management processes. /p p“AppSheet is very scalable,” Magrane notes. “And whenever there’s something that we need to add, it’s very easy to update our apps. At the same time, there’s almost no implementation cost. It costs almost nothing when I introduce a new app. And our employees already know how to use them, so they are able to hit the ground running with no training.”/p pTutti Gourmet’s apps are used by workers of all backgrounds. In fact, Tutti Gourmet has had such a positive experience with AppSheet that—even as they scale—they have no intention of switching to an enterprise resource management (ERP) solution. AppSheet has helped Magrane’s team move with agility./p pLooking ahead, AppSheet will play a critical role in Tutti Gourmet’s next growth phase. The team is starting to do more with document management within AppSheet. The team has found it very helpful to upload documents, track workflows and set permissions. This way, they can ensure things are traceable and protected by tiered access. AppSheet is able to do this really well and will be very important to the Tutti team as they prepare to move into a new facility and receive a high-end food safety certification. /p p“I can use AppSheet for everything,” states Magrane./p

Metrics

pAppSheet has enabled Tutti Gourmet to improve on several metrics as follows:/p ul liNonconformities   ul liSince using AppSheet we have reduced the time it takes us to resolve any nonconformities and/or incidents. This is mainly due to the automated workflows that give the right people the right information they need to carry out corrective actions in a timely manner. ul liAs you already know we just had an audit. This year we had 50% fewer nonconformities when compared to last year. The major driver of this result was AppSheet./li /ul /li /ul /li li Traceability ul liOur accounting system does not have traceability for finished goods. Prior to AppSheet, we recording manually in excel. This took an enormous amount of time and errors were high. ul liSince using AppSheet the traceability workflow has been cut in more than half and errors are nearly non-existent./li /ul /li /ul /li li Inventory Management ul liWe previously relied on physical counts for inventory. Errors were common and things some slipped through the cracks. ul liImplementing a barcode system through AppSheet along with automated restock notices have increased our efficiency and has ensured that we are always capable to fulfill orders and produced at capacity if needed./li /ul /li /ul /li /ul

The Technology

pAppSheet is an intelligent (machine learning-based) no-code app development platform that empowers all those people to innovate, to create apps themselves and to use those apps every day with their teams./p

Disruptive Factor

pA decade ago, no one could have predicted how big the gluten-free food industry would become. Companies like Tutti Gourmet had to scale their operations to meet the growing needs of its customers. Since using AppSheet to modernize many of his company’s operations, it now has about 40 apps that are used for everything from ordering to quality control to scheduling audits, etc. These apps have modernized Tutti Gourmet’s operations and created a culture of digital innovation at the company./p pWhen managing a gluten-free facility, there’s little room for error. Therefore, it’s critical to document every ingredient—for safety and auditing. Since he is also in charge of food safety, one of the best parts of using AppSheet is that it’s helped manage their approved supplier program. As a gluten-free facility, suppliers are central to their business. Every ingredient goes through a rigorous approval process before it enters the building./p pMagrane made a special supplier management app that acts as a doc management and notification system. It has specific forms, with checkboxes for items like gluten-free statements and kosher certifications. Missing documentation could result in a recall, potentially putting the company in jeopardy. Now, his team gets notifications when expiration dates are approaching to help stay on top of the documentation for their suppliers, which has been extremely helpful./p

Shining Moment

pPersonally, I really enjoy seeing the look of excitement on the faces of my co-workers whey he creates something with AppSheet that solves a particularly frustrating problem or inefficient process. /p