King Pie, established in 1993 and a subsidiary of the Bidvest Group, has been part of consumers’ lives for over 20 years and is still the leading pie franchise in the quick service restaurant industry. The company has 290 franchise outlets nationwide and an increasing African footprint in countries such as Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia.
King Pie’s manufacturing facility is based in Midrand and manufactures over 180 000 pies a day to the highest standards.
Being a producer, seller and franchisor of goods, King Pie required an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that could seamlessly integrate into and support the company’s complex business model and financial processes.
“Our existing system was not able to deliver the functional capabilities that we required,” says Hennie Terreblanche, CFO of King Pie.
“We considered a number of ERP solutions before deciding on Sage ERP X3. The scalability of the product, together with its cost efficiency and comprehensive scope – including all aspects of sales, stock control and inventory management, were some of the reasons for the choice,” says Terreblanche.
Having previously delivered excellent business support to another subsidiary in the same stable, Parity Software, the premier business partner to Sage ERP X3 Africa, was selected to manage the project implementation, and was tasked to meet stringent performance criteria, against firm deadlines, before being considered for appointment as the preferred partner.
“The King Pie transition had to take place in a short period of time. The company’s year-end was in June and it was required for reporting purposes that 18 months’ worth of financial data be migrated from their old system to Sage ERP X3. Parity Software achieved this in just 30 days, in time for the year-end, earning us the appointment as the King Pie Sage ERP X3 partner,” says Warren Williams, MD of Parity Software.
“Sage ERP X3’s ease of customisation, as well as its user-friendly interface and advanced functionality have proved to be a perfect match for King Pie,” says Keith Fenner, senior VP for sales at Sage ERP Africa and the Middle East.
“Sage ERP X3 offers the freedom of choice, ease of integration, high performance and reliability that forward-thinking companies such as King Pie rely on to increase profitability and seize the competitive advantage,” says Fenner.
“Sage ERP X3 Financials fully integrates with our existing distribution, trading, manufacturing, project implementation and unit servicing. It was deployed using our existing staff compliment and was finalised within the specified time period, which was impressive,” says Terreblanche.
King Pie describes the entire process as a pleasurable experience.
“The implementation process has been relatively short, but we are already starting to reap the benefits that Sage ERP X3 has to offer,” says Terreblanche. “The support from the business partner is of high calibre and the user confidence in terms of correct and on time data input into the system is increasing, and thus eliminates manual manipulation in reporting.”
Looking ahead, King Pie will expand its systems in 2014 to include the core Sage ERP X3 solution.
“This addition will enable us to enhance our existing manufacturing processes, with all the flexibility and mobility it desires in one comprehensive end-to-end solution,” concludes Terreblanche.