Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for bakery product manufacturers.
A checklist built from how bakery product manufacturers work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Outlet and standing orders
- Mixer and oven planning
- Dough batch and ingredient lots
- Allergen changeover log
- Wrapping, dating and trays
- Returns and credit notes
- Route delivery sheets
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For the bake planner
- For mixing and oven leads
- For line supervisors
- For dispatch and drivers
- For quality staff
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Bake plan against actual trays by product
- Ingredient lots used by dough batch
- Allergen changeovers signed by line and shift
- Returns by outlet, route and product
- Shelf-life dates printed by product and pack
- Standing order changes after cut-off
- Flour and packaging stock against the next week’s plan
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- SMS
- Label printer
- Accounting export
- Payment gateway
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can the plan follow orders that change after cut-off?
- How are allergen changes handled between lines?
- Can I trace a complaint back to one flour sack?
- Will drivers need a special device?
- Can products with different shelf lives share one line?
- Does it handle credit notes for unsold trays?
- Is last year’s order history usable?
- What does a demo cover?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Standing orders drift from the bake plan
- Flour sacks never reach the dispatch sheet
- Allergen changeovers rely on memory
- Returns are counted but not analysed
- Shelf life is set by habit
Prefer to talk it through? See the bakery product manufacturers page.