Crisp helps Carbone craft a recipe for success with KeHE
With Crisp’s help, Carbone is able to grow through national distributors and expand into major grocery store chains across the nation.
Situation
Beyond the boroughs
Carbone Fine Food is a line of jarred pasta sauces created by Michelin-acclaimed chefs Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, the culinary visionaries behind the iconic New York City restaurant, Carbone.
Since opening their first restaurant in 2013, the Carbone brand has expanded its presence to Miami, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong, captivating markets with their Instagram-worthy plates of pasta and impeccable dining experiences. Recognizing the demand to savor their flavors beyond the restaurants, the brand ventured into retail with Carbone Fine Food, and has experienced remarkable growth in the two years since.
As seasoned CPG pros, Carbone’s sales team knew that data would play a pivotal role in securing expansion with leading retailers and distributors – so they turned to Crisp to enable the brand’s placement in 20,000 store locations by the end of 2023.
Solution
Data as the secret ingredient
With Crisp, Carbone’s sales team took a methodical approach to growth through national distributors like KeHE. They used distribution dashboards to identify warehouses that hadn’t stocked their sauces, then set out to close the top two or three accounts to activate distribution in the region. This approach has led to expansion into major grocery chains like Publix, Sprouts, and Safeway-Albertsons, each offering thousands of points of distribution (PODs).
But Carbone’s use of Crisp isn’t just about expansion; it’s also about optimization. Using the platform’s KeHE dashboards, the team tracks out-of-stocks to make the case for larger purchase orders using the irrefutable data as evidence.
The result? “Every single warehouse has increased weeks of supply on us because of how fast we’re moving,” Chris explains, “Without Crisp, we couldn’t make such requests.” With greater purchase orders comes the need for more robust order fulfillment. This is a joint effort when working with distributors, who maintain the fill-rates to the individual store locations.
Thanks to Crisp, Carbone’s team can track KeHe’s fill rate to stores, swiftly communicating with their KeHE account managers whenever there’s a discrepancy or a need to ship out products. By leveraging Crisp to enhance inventory flow and keep shelves stocked, the team has successfully boosted their fill rate by 10% and saved an estimated $500k in avoided stock-outs.
Results: Culinary conquest
- 86% increase in distribution through KeHE
- 189% increase in overall sales with KeHE
- Boosted fill rate by 10% to 92% average
- Saved $500,000 in avoided out-of-stocks
Favorite Insight:
KeHE Dashboards
Track out-of-stocks and leverage data to make a case for larger purchase orders.
“When it comes to managing out-of-stocks, I wouldn’t hesitate to say that Crisp has translated back $500,000 in sales for Carbone.”
Chris Wendling
Head of Natural and Specialty Sales
Always be Data Ready with Crisp
Crisp allows food brands and retailers to stay ahead of rapidly evolving consumer behavior, identify potential supply chain disruptions, track inventory and product performance. It’s easy and quick to get started so you can be Data Ready.