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As Ordermentum celebrates its 10th anniversary, we find out how technology has changed the way successful Australian bakeries do business.

Ordermentum was founded by Adam Theobald and Andrew Low in 2014 and, initially, there was trepidation from potential customers that they didn’t want to use an app in case it damaged the sacred supplier/venue bond.

But the industry has evolved and the use of apps, technology, and automation is not only commonplace – it’s vital. Today, Ordermentum is used by half of Australia’s hospitality venues and 1000 quality suppliers and wholesalers all over the country.

Many of those venues are cafés and restaurants who order bread, pastries, pies, and other baked goods from the bakery suppliers who make up a large proportion of the total wholesalers on the platform.

Some of those bakeries have seen their operations change drastically over the years, with streamlined workflow, increased sales, and more resources.

An example is Melbourne’s Cobb Lane, famous for their sourdough, unique pies and, some say Melbourne’s best carrot cake.

“Many years ago when we were first starting out our customer order process was manual,” says Nadine Smith, the Wholesale Sales Manager at Cobb Lane.

“We would take customer orders over the phone/via text/email/pigeon(!), add them into a production spreadsheet, tally up the totals for our recipes and then manually create each invoice in our accounting software.”

The business was trucking along until covid, when it became apparent, they needed a technology solution to stay viable.

“As soon as the pandemic started we realised our cash flow would be in trouble due to our customer’s venues being forced to close due to lockdowns. If they had no income, they wouldn’t be paying bills,” Nadine says.

“We quickly moved to implement automatic payments via Ordermentum on a daily/weekly basis. This was an absolute lifesaver and has continued to be really important in terms of cashflow.”

Anna Rogers enjoying Prove Patisserie’s signature sourdough

Her thoughts are echoed by Anna Rogers, Director of Prove Patisserie, an Adelaide bakery known for their flaky, buttery croissants.

“All our wholesale customers are debited after each delivery to keep it super simple for everyone,” says Anna.

“Only the amount that should come out comes out. If someone’s got a last minute change, we make the change, and the invoice automatically updates. This saves everyone time and headaches. Sitting around manually paying bills is not a good use of anyone’s time.”

“The other issue we were super keen to manage was cashflow. As a litigation lawyer who has worked in insolvency, I was acutely aware that not managing cash is often the reason businesses fail.”

The issue of cashflow is an incredibly important one, given the current economic climate.

Ordermentum users often see their bad debts reduced by up to 75 per cent, and suppliers can choose if they want to be paid upfront or on terms.

Another valuable tool is the data and insights the platform provides around product sales, which allow for forecasting, stock management and profitability.

“I didn’t realise the Insights feature would be quite so detailed. It’s really useful for us to get macro and micro level detail on customers, orders, and performance,” says Alex Duffy, a previous General Manager at Melbourne’s Wonder Pies.

“We can see what our sales are in real time and in whatever intervals we want, we can see what customers are ordering and when. We can see what our minimum and average spends are, and what products sell best, and this visibility is a gamechanger.”

What’s most compelling for bakery wholesalers though, is the vast number of venue users the platform attracts. Forty thousand venues now using the platform to order goods from suppliers, and many have actually ‘met’ their current bakery supplier on the platform.

“It’s our preferred way,” says Peter Utry, General Manager of Vili’s, one of South Australia’s most famous and beloved bakeries.

Peter has been part of Vili’s for over 32 years and has seen the business go through many changes.

With Ordermentum, Peter has seen much less pressure on admin staff and less strain on resources.

“The ease with which customers can place their orders and that we can import that sales

data. Originally, we tried to build a similar platform ourselves, but it didn’t work,” he says.

“The schedules are really great and easy to manage. The pricing, the visibility groups, all those things mean if you were to try and build what Ordermentum has, you’d just be so far out of pocket. I couldn’t imagine what that would cost to build.”

Fresh La Spiga Bakery delivery at Bertoni Cafe in Balmain

Luckily this isn’t a solution that bakeries need to worry about creating on their own, and Ordermentum is heavily investing in the venue experience to drive user engagement, and ultimately, more orders for suppliers.

In fact, data suggests that suppliers using Ordermentum see an increased spend of around 40 per cent over two years. This is due to the user experience of seeing all the products from any one supplier in one place.

On top of all of this, the platform helps bakeries with a key problem: finding customers. It’s something that has always been a problem for suppliers of every size, and that’s why Ordermentum created their marketplace feature, Growth Engine.

“I think Growth Engine is really good,” says Michelle Blyth. She’s the Co-founder and Managing Director of Cremorne Street Bakers, a successful Melbourne bakery with a loyal following and shelf space in Coles.

“We don’t have sales and marketing out on the road as such, and even if you’re getting leads, they don’t all come through in the end.

“With Growth Engine, customers come to you, and it’s great to be in a marketplace in a forum that’s specifically catered to food businesses… I think that’s much better than only trying to be found on Google.”

Michelle has seen that the Growth Engine feature allows the business to expand their reach.

“Now we can be open to small towns, who are further away from the city, and are craving for cakes. They’re further away, but they’ve generally got no problem with the delivery fee because they’re getting something completely different to what’s around them.”

It’s all part of the exciting landscape of tech that is open to bakery businesses all around the country. The best part? It’s only the beginning.

AI is taking centre stage as the company builds new features that are all centre around helping suppliers scale their businesses in the most efficient, cost-effective way possible.