Inside Drink Distribution’s Vancouver Island Warehouse

Posted by:

Kristina Mustenikov

There’s nothing like the crisp taste of a fresh brew, bold wine, or bubbly cider—and for Drink Distribution, delivering that perfect sip at peak freshness isn’t just a service agreement; it’s their passion. 🍻

Nestled on the beautiful Vancouver Island, Drink Distribution is the go-to 3PL Distribution expert for small batch deliveries for local alcoholic beverage producers in British Columbia.

Founded by industry experts driven by a passion for quality, Drink Distribution was created with a unique vision—to ensure every case arrives fresh and ready to enjoy, even if it means delivering just one case at a time. 📦

In a market dominated by the B.C. Liquor Board and large batch third party distributors, they found no one was servicing the smaller suppliers, and small batch quantities. So they decided to offer the solution themselves.

Drink needed an integrated warehouse and transportation management system with powerful features that could help them efficiently manage operations, manage high volume and small quantities together, navigate expiries and item handling requirements — all the while allowing their small team to continue offering a high level of service to their customers.

“We chose CartonCloud, which allowed us to manage both the warehouse and our transportation – from our warehouse, last-mile delivery, right to the end user.” - Dave Dallin, General Manager/Co-owner, Drink Distribution

Enhanced tracking for end-to-end management

For Drink, having a system that could seamlessly streamline orders from the warehouse all the way to final delivery was essential. They required a solution that could automate stock management with precision, ensuring their customers' unique requirements were met effortlessly.

One of the most critical aspects of their operation is tracking stock expiry to keep inventory fresh for customers.

“Our inventory system is tracked by first in, first out for some products, but also with beer it expires. So we also use a first expire, first out,” Mr Dallin explained.

CartonCloud's advanced tracking capabilities allows Drink to monitor and prioritize products based on their expiry dates and batch numbers.

“Producers who want to give us some last-minute products that might expire a little bit quicker than others, we can use those expiry dates through CartonCloud to make sure that we get those early expiry [dates] out first,” he continued.

Drink relies on CartonCloud’s Scan Move and Wave Picking functionalities to streamline their workflow.

“We use CartonCloud’s Wave Pick system that shows you where the product is, how many flats, cases, kegs, whatever it may be. It'll tell you if it's been moved, if it needs to be moved, if it needs to be rotated and then that gets picked and packed all into one pallet,” explains Kierden Buchanan, Delivery Specialist, Drink Distribution.

“I also use the Mobile App’s Scan Move function quite a bit, as I’m constantly moving things around [the warehouse]. Every time a product gets rotated top down, I move it. It made maintaining the warehouse so easy,” he added.

From the warehouse to the delivery truck, CartonCloud’s integrated system empowers Drink to manage deliveries with ease, ensuring customers receive their orders fresh and on time.

“Vancouver Island is about 600 kilometres tip to toe – that's a long way for a truck to go in a day. So we manage that through the use of Zone Sets. Specifically, we have key areas that allow us to deliver and apply the appropriate amount of fuel surcharge to the right location,” explains Mr Buchanan.

“By doing this, it also separates all the orders into different truck loads and different delivery days and different zones that allow simplicity in our warehousing and our transportation.”

Drink is now paperless, using electronic proof of deliveries to make their operations faster and more efficient, right down to the end user.

“We have transitioned from paper signatures to e-signatures using CartonCloud and it's so funny to see the reactions of people. They think we're ahead of everyone else, because everyone else is still using paper and pens. And people love it. It's very cool,” said Mr Buchanan.

Using their WMS to deliver exceptional customer service

“CartonCloud brought to the fold what others couldn't,” said Mr Dallin.

“It's capable of expanding and working with producers makes CartonCloud really simple for us to expand and use in our business.”

Through CartonCloud’s user-friendly client dashboard, Drink offers their customers full visibility into their stock and order status from warehouse arrival to final delivery.

“You know, we found that CartonCloud is very intuitive… very user-friendly… it's easy to see what's going on and what's going where,” said Ben Thomas, Owner/General Manager of Lighthouse Brewing Company.

“All of our producers use CartonCloud through the dashboard. I've sat through many onboarding sessions with all of those customers. Everyone loves it. Everyone seems to think it's quite simple to use,” said Mr Buchanan.

“They can see when [their order] comes into the warehouse. They can see when the product gets picked. They can see when it gets packed. They can see when it gets on the truck and they can see exactly when it was signed for the end user,” explained Mr Dallin.

Providing top-notch customer service with a local feel is at the heart of Drink’s operations.

“When people come [to Vancouver Island], they feel the sense of local. And that is like a sense of what we want to provide to people.”

“We're a small team. We encompass the entire island, we do all the Gulf Islands, we will cover any ground. We will take any product where you want us to take it. We're happy to do it. And that is part of the service that we bring to the industry,” said Mr Buchanan.

Drink’s customers rely on them for cold, on-time deliveries, and with CartonCloud, they can confidently manage and execute small batch deliveries, ensuring consistency and reliability for their customers.

“One of the great things about being a small business ourselves is that we can provide small batch services. So our minimums for case deliveries is only one case, which a lot of people won't do because they need economies of scale to make their trucks full,” said Mr Dallin.

Ease-of-use for the whole team

CartonCloud's intuitive design makes it fast and easy to onboard and train new staff, allowing them to dive into the software and get started right away.

“It's simple, I think for anyone to come on board with us now to learn our system, to be able to teach a new driver, a new warehouse person, our system through CartonCloud, they'll download their app, they'll use it.”

“It's very intuitive and user friendly and it makes our jobs a breeze, and I think it would make anyone's job a breeze as well,” said Mr Buchanan.

“When we have our employees using it, it's quite simple to teach them… It's intuitive and it allows them to do exactly what they need to do to get the business done as fast as possible,” said Mr Dallin.

CartonCloud is easy to use, yet packed with powerful features that simplify Drink’s everyday tasks.

“Anything from using the desktop app to using the app on their phone, tracking their parcels while on delivery and getting signed proofs of delivery right at the store and sending emails off to the producer and to the customer within seconds has really shaped how we run our business,” he added.