Established in 1952, Skala Bakery is a South Australian artisan bakery known for handcrafted breads, pastries and savouries. Operating a hybrid model of central production, wholesale distribution, and multi-site retail, Skala supplies cafes, supermarkets and foodservice venues alongside its retail bakeries across Adelaide.
As the business continued to grow, so did operational complexity, highlighting the need for stronger systems to support scale, visibility and efficiency.
Their Challenges
- Growing operational complexity outpaced existing processes
- Limited real-time visibility across retail and wholesale operations
- Manual consolidation of wholesale orders
- Time-intensive reporting and reconciliation
- Inconsistent stock visibility and production planning
- Increased risk of errors across ordering and fulfilment
Why Alpen?
With growth accelerating, Skala needed a fully integrated system that could connect production, wholesale and retail operations in one place. Alpen's team took the time to understand Skala's unique workflows and the complexities of bakery manufacturing and wholesale operations, ensuring the solution could support Skala's operations without sacrificing usability.
The Alpen Solution
Alpen implemented a centralised ERP and POS system, bringing together wholesale ordering, production planning, stock control and reporting across all sites.
The implementation connected Skala's production, wholesale and retail operations into a single integrated platform, replacing the mix of manual processes, spreadsheets and disconnected POS tools that had previously created challenges as the business expanded.
Wholesale ordering and fulfilment were streamlined through the new system, reducing manual consolidation and the risk of errors. Production planning and stock control were brought into a single view, giving Skala's teams greater confidence in the data they rely on day-to-day.
Reporting across all sites was significantly simplified, with manual reconciliation replaced by accurate, real-time data across production, wholesale and retail.
The Results
Following implementation, Skala gained immediate operational improvements across production, wholesale and retail. Operations that previously required significant manual effort are now streamlined and connected across the business.
- Greater visibility across production, wholesale and retail
- Streamlined wholesale ordering and fulfilment
- More accurate production planning and stock control
- Significant reduction in manual reporting and administration
- Improved data confidence to support decision-making and growth
- A connected, data-driven foundation to support continued growth
"Alpen has given us the visibility and control we needed as a growing wholesale and retail bakery. Bringing our ordering, production, and reporting into one system has streamlined operations and improved confidence across the business. The Alpen team understood our complexity and supported us every step of the way."
– Rebecca Dinkoudis, Retail Operations Manager, Skala Bakery