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Whiskey Systems. To Much Money???? thoughts??


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We've also been shopping for a distillery tracking software package, and will probably go back to our original business plan concept to create our own system. So far all I've found is expensive cloud based stuff, wherein we do not physically control nor actually possess either the software or our own data. We only have a selection of the two worst ISP's on the planet here, and this adds significantly to the unacceptable quotient on the best of days, not to mention that my wife (another third of our startup) is a recovering attorney and the cloud makes her very nervous and grumpy faced. I'm an antique engineer of three flavors and have never met a computer code that I couldn't tame, but right now Microsoft Access is still my first choice. Simple, user customizable, secure, and user owned and controlled. The cloud will be our BACKUP, not our primary, as it should be, personal and professional responsibility-wise. Consider the "distillery program competition" gauntlet mentioned above thrown. May take a while, but count on it. More than a one-time couple of hundred bucks for a supported (updates and such) package is what should be expected. If anyone else beats me to it, my checkbook is ready. If anyone else is in-process, free consultations upon request.

Bold choice. I don't presume to know what your hourly rate is, ou how long it'd take you to build a fully function program but it's definitely saved me time and money. I can't speak for DS anymore (been 15 months since I've used it) but WS allows - and encourages - you to save your information in readily downloadable files.

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One of their sales reps contacted me, so I took a quick look. My recollection is that the monthly fee is an order of magnitude higher than Distillery Solutions and Whiskey Resources.

Orchestrated Spirits is about double per month of Whiskey Systems, not 10x. Talked to them @ ADI, watched some of their online vids. SAP based, if that's your thing.

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  • 1 month later...

We are currently in the process of starting up.  We signed on with Whiskey Resources to help us with start up and DSP application and will continue to use their services after we are in production.  It literally lays out what our costs will be per PG etc.  Plus after we put all of our information in each quarter, it will populate our TTB reports as well as the DSP.  Totally worth the money.  Yes, it can be pricey, but much better than paying back taxes to the government. 

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5 hours ago, CBDCo said:

We are currently in the process of starting up.  We signed on with Whiskey Resources to help us with start up and DSP application and will continue to use their services after we are in production.  It literally lays out what our costs will be per PG etc.  Plus after we put all of our information in each quarter, it will populate our TTB reports as well as the DSP.  Totally worth the money.  Yes, it can be pricey, but much better than paying back taxes to the government. 

I guess my question would be how do you even know that you need it? You haven't even started. What if you only made one pallet a month? That would be so easy to keep track of. It would probably cost you about $.75 a bottle just for the program. Now when you're moving a couple semi loads a month that's a completely different situation.

just my 2 cents

 

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They have a new business start up tool that helps you determine price points, distillery needs etc.  Once we get started there is another module that will help you with TTB.  They have a consulting component as well, Donald, the owner of the company has met with us several times to help us in the various stages of development.  Frankly, we want to make sure we are making the best possible decisions while in the start up process, we feel it is worth the money

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Depends on your size of production - If your doing a 1K cases a month I can see a value - If your a startup, it's a great deal for the guys selling it.  Most of the distilleries that I'm seeing in Texas struggle to do a few hundred cases a year, for us it's a complete waste of money that can be spent on sales and marketing. 

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1 hour ago, HedgeBird said:

https://www.hoochware.com/

Has anyone given these guys a try yet?

I've been doing beta testing with HoochWare and am incredibly impressed! I met Shawn (the owner/designer/developer/brains) just as he was getting started on this project and have nothing but respect for both him and the software. I was about to pull the trigger on DS....after doing the beta testing, there is no way that I will be using anything but HoochWare in our distillery.The software is incredibly versatile, easy to use, and a powerful tool. It does everything from handling incoming raw ingredients with a Purchase Order system and recipe design to sending product out the door with a distributor portal...and everything in between. HoochWare even saves your TTB reports to your pay.gov account so all you have to do is verify and click submit....literally a couple of clicks and your monthly reporting is done! Shawn has some incredible ideas for additional features and reporting that he is adding. I really feel like HoochWare has way more functionality at a fraction of the cost of other options on the market.

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55 minutes ago, Stumpy's said:

I've been doing beta testing with HoochWare and am incredibly impressed! I met Shawn (the owner/designer/developer/brains) just as he was getting started on this project and have nothing but respect for both him and the software. I was about to pull the trigger on DS....after doing the beta testing, there is no way that I will be using anything but HoochWare in our distillery.The software is incredibly versatile, easy to use, and a powerful tool. It does everything from handling incoming raw ingredients with a Purchase Order system and recipe design to sending product out the door with a distributor portal...and everything in between. HoochWare even saves your TTB reports to your pay.gov account so all you have to do is verify and click submit....literally a couple of clicks and your monthly reporting is done! Shawn has some incredible ideas for additional features and reporting that he is adding. I really feel like HoochWare has way more functionality at a fraction of the cost of other options on the market.

Thanks for the feedback!  I have a demo scheduled and am excited to check it out.

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Another Hoochware user here!  Shawn is awesome, very quick to address issues and answer questions, very receptive to ideas, and very focused on delivering a very functional and very elegant solution for the craft distillery industry! I highly recommend you take a look at Hoochware .

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  • 2 months later...

I'm not going to address if the cost makes sense for small startups. In the beginning most of us need to save dollars wherever we can. For those that are beyond that point and are actively considering packaged solutions I want to put in a good word for Whiskey Systems. The software itself has saved us a ton of time vs all of the spreadsheets we had used previously. Not only is it easier for multiple users to enter info, but we have far better records if we ever run into a TTB audit. 

The service has been nothing short of incredible. The developers have been extremely available and helpful. They went way beyond the normal help in setting up a software system and practically became TTB reporting consultants. 

The pricing and contract are both very reasonable. One of their competitors gave us a contract that calculated volumes in ways that seemed designed to extract every penny possible in the way they calculated sales volumes (and therefore your monthly charge). The competitor also had a disparagement clause in the contract. That means that if you are not happy with their software you are not allowed to tell anyone or they can sue you. That clause alone was a huge red flag and a deal killer for me. The whiskey systems guys strike me as wanting to provide a great product at a reasonable price. They are a software driven company, not a sales driven company. The particular competitor that we looked at seemed designed to extract every penny that they could and struck me as a sales organization that just happened to be providing a software product for distilleries. 

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