Retail platform enabling sales to grow by 300%

Review Summary
- Food and Beverage
- Development
- Workflow Management Platform
- 1-10 employees
- Austin, Texas, USA
5/5 CLIENT REVIEW
First Crush’s demos are staffed by independent contractors. When they came to us looking for contractor management solutions, the company was experiencing serious growth. As they expanded to more stores, it became harder to find contractors. Every new job meant a lot of back-and-forth phone calling and emailing to schedule. They needed to empower their own growth with automated job scheduling and data collection for their point of purchase marketing efforts.

The platform [Praxent built] has allowed our company to grow threefold in size, and we were able to handle the additional volume seamlessly.
Daniel Hernandez, CEO, Palaterra First Crush Tastings, Inc.
Summary
The Problem
Managed contractor information in Microsoft Excel, but knew had outgrown it and that a more robust database was the answer
How We Helped
DEVELOPMENT
Custom web app development
Contractor-facing capabilities automated a number of manual processes
The Outcomes
The Problem
“Help! We think we need a database!”
That was essentially what we heard from the folks at First Crush Tastings, who stage in-store demos for food and beverage companies. The company had no way of knowing who to hire for what positions because it didn’t have the data to evaluate contractors. So staffing decisions had to be made based on the quantity of people available, rather than the quality.
First Crush managed contractor information in Microsoft Excel. They knew they had outgrown it and assumed a more robust database was the answer. Working with us in the discovery process, a different perspective emerged. Together, we identified the real challenge as one of inefficient communication and insufficient data. And the custom web app we developed to address that challenge has transformed the business.
Their willingness and ability to take an idea and proactively improve upon it is a key differentiator.
Daniel Hernandez, CEO, Palaterra First Crush Tastings, Inc.
How we Helped
Web App Development
It’s not only tailor-made for us, it also gets rid of paperwork and makes everything real-time. For the past couple of years, the system has worked without a hitch.
Daniel Hernandez, CEO, Palaterra First Crush Tastings, Inc.
Results/ROI
The workflow management software we created not only solved First Crush Tastings’ administrative problems, it created a new source of value. The wealth of new data they could now access revealed unexpected ways to maximize the sales generated by in-store demos. Some of these were as simple as choosing the right day of the week to have a demo at a particular store. The data also validated the dramatic sales increases these small changes made.
National suppliers are now coming to First Crush to gather market insights to inform product branding. First Crush Tastings went from just another industry player to a proven game changer. The results were so dramatic that marketing the technology that makes it possible is now a major new focus of their business.
Praxent has provided a tracker that helps me visualize the team’s performance, what stage we’re in, and what our budget is. I can see our budget broken down for an 8-week period.
Daniel Hernandez, CEO, Palaterra First Crush Tastings, Inc.
Gallery
Client Review
Background
Introduce your business and what you do there.
First Crush Tastings, Inc. is an in-store tasting company operating in Texas. We provide marketing services specific to spirits. We also operate a platform-based business for the same industry, called Palatera, connecting suppliers of beers, wines, and spirits and tasting agencies like ours. The aim is to provide better insights into the tasting process, track performance, and better analyze the data. Businesses can thus spend smarter and increase their ROI [return on investment].
I am the chief executive officer and owner of both companies.
Opportunity / Challenge
What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?
Our company was in a growth mode and had reached a maximum output possible from just using Excel sheets and other tracking forms. We needed a platform that could help us communicate with the teams and manage the incoming jobs.
Solution
What was the scope of their involvement?
Praxent was initially hired in order to build an internal platform that would help us manage the level of business coming in. A reporting function was eventually added, too.
The platform has allowed our company to grow threefold in size, and we were able to handle the additional volume seamlessly.
The size of our team will depend on our budget for a particular month. At a minimum, we will work with 2–3 developers but have used up to 5 people from Praxent. We interact with them directly, on a weekly basis, talking about and demoing what was built the week prior, as well as planning for the upcoming week.
How did you come to work with Praxent?
We interviewed several local companies, but Praxent was the only group which was engaged from the beginning. They came in and took the time to learn why we were needing what we needed, how our business operated, what our pain points were, what was causing them, and how the software could solve that. The level of questions and involvement from Praxent was one of the main reasons for choosing them.
How much have you invested with them?
The total cost of Praxent’s services has been close to $1,000,000. We have a time-and-materials engagement.
What is the status of this engagement?
We have been working with Praxent for 6 years, and have an ongoing development process.
Results & Feedback
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We’ve built a best-in-class platform. Suppliers can generate reports from tastings and gain insights into the results. I’ve regularly been told that we have the best reporting system on the market.
One of our brand managers launched a product nationally, starting in Austin. Through our reporting, they were able to gain insights on how to market the brand nationally: if it needed any tweaking, or could be launched as-is.
How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?
Especially after working with someone for 6 years, it’s rare to say that we’ve been on budget and on time every time, hitting our goals at every stage of the development. Praxent has provided a tracker that helps me visualize the team’s performance, what stage we’re in, and what our budget is. I can see our budget broken down for an 8-week period.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Praxent is very easy to work and communicate with. Whenever I’ve presented my ideas around what the next stage of development should be, Praxent was keen in providing further insight, taking my vision to the next level. If Praxent’s team sees an opportunity to expand on my vision, they’ll communicate it. On most cases, we move forward with the recommendations.
Are there any areas they could improve?
There’s nothing that Praxent could do better, from my experience.
Ratings
5.0
Overall Score5.0
Scheduling
On Time / Deadlines
5.0
Quality
Service & Deliverables
5.0
Cost
Value / Within estimates
5.0
NPS
Willing to RefernnSome prospects of Praxent have called me, asking about our projects.
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