
INFOMAN Makes Business Sweeter for Fran's Chocolates
Lauren Vogel remembers her amazement when she started working as an operations analyst at Fran’s Chocolates. “When you factor in the complicated ingredients, exacting recipes, and manual labor, the manufacturing process seems like a jigsaw puzzle. We could have never continued managing our growing operations with spreadsheets and raw data alone.”
Fran’s Chocolates
AWARD-WINNING QUALITY
Fran Bigelow started making gourmet chocolates and truffles in a small store in 1982 in Seattle’s Madison neighborhood. Today her company includes two retail shops plus a combined warehouse/office space, with nationwide distribution to specialty and gourmet stores.
Handmade quality has certainly paid off. Fran’s Chocolates was rated the best overall chocolatier in the authoritative Book of Chocolate, and her caramels have twice received the national Most Outstanding Confection Award. Also, Fran’s Pure Chocolate Cookbook was named Best Cookbook by Food & Wine Magazine among many other honors.
SAGE ACCPAC AND INFOMAN
After a lengthy evaluation process in 1997, Fran’s adopted Sage Accpac to automate its financials. MISys manufacturing software manages the operations end of the business. The two systems were skillfully integrated and customized by Fran’s Sage Business Partner, INFOMAN.
What would things be like at Fran’s without Sage Accpac and INFOMAN? “Scary!” laughs Lauren. “If we didn’t have AccPac and MISys Manufacturing, we would certainly need a larger office staff, our accuracy would plummet, our planning and budgeting would be out of whack, and we wouldn’t be able to focus on what we do best—make chocolate.”
%
Corporate Rebranding
%
Website Redesign
Day Turnaround
Amazing Result
Mobile Site Boosted Sales By 50%
Mobile Refresh
Rebuilt From the Inside Out
Extensive Demographic Studies
- Mobile Sales 80%
- Website Traffic 50%
- Conversion Rate 75%
- Email Subscribers 60%