Case Study · Food & Beverage · Franchise Network
How we fixed a chai brand's franchise order mess
A connected ordering system that replaced Excel sheets, WhatsApp messages and printed lists across 60+ franchises.
See the resultsImplementation at a glance
Zoho franchise ordering system for a growing chai brand
Franchises onboarded
60+
Monthly orders
100+
Daily processing
20 mins
Client overview
Manual order handling was slowing the whole network down.
A fast-growing chai brand was running its entire franchise supply chain on Excel sheets, WhatsApp messages, printed lists and phone calls. Every franchise shared orders in a different format, so the head office spent half the day working out which version of an order was the latest one.
Delivery staff worked from manually consolidated lists and often carried the wrong items or missed items altogether. Stock movement was not tracked, which affected billing accuracy. When a franchise raised a problem, it went into a call or a message and was never followed up. The team lost two to three hours every day cleaning up mistakes.
The goal
Give every franchise one place to order from, connect that order to stock, billing and support, and remove manual re-entry from the daily routine.
Our approach
A single ordering flow the franchises would actually use.
We mapped how each franchise orders, how the warehouse works and how deliveries run, then selected the Zoho applications that would carry each part of that flow and keep them in sync.
01 / Ordering portal
Zoho Commerce for franchise ordering
Every franchise received its own login to view products, stock availability and pricing, then place orders in a few clicks. All 60+ franchises moved into one submission flow.
02 / Records and stock
CRM and Inventory connected
Zoho CRM held a clean profile for every franchise covering order history, contacts, delivery status and notes, while Zoho Inventory tracked stock movement automatically.
03 / Custom screens
Control centre in Zoho Creator
A custom dashboard brought together total orders, delivery status, order-wise item quantity, low stock alerts, internal notes and quick reports for the management team.
04 / Billing and support
Books and Desk in the same flow
Approved orders pushed straight into Zoho Books for automatic invoicing, and Zoho Desk gave franchises a ticket trail instead of calls that were never followed up.
What we implemented
One connected system, built around their daily routine.
Franchise ordering portal
Individual logins, live product and stock visibility, and direct order submission to the backend, replacing sheets and messages entirely.
Franchise profiles in Zoho CRM
Order history, contact details, delivery status and internal notes in one record so the back office can trace who ordered what.
Automated stock tracking
Zoho Inventory keeps stock numbers current across Commerce and Books, turning an hours-long calculation into a few seconds.
Custom management dashboard
A Zoho Creator screen built for their routine, covering order volume, delivery status, quantities, low stock alerts and quick reports.
Automatic invoicing
Around 100 invoices a month that were once punched in by hand now generate from approved orders in Zoho Books.
Ticketing for franchise issues
Franchises raise tickets in Zoho Desk, the support team works from one queue, and status stays visible to both sides.
The results
Less firefighting. A supply chain that runs on its own.
The impact was visible within the first month of going live.
3x
Faster order to delivery
Orders move through the system without manual consolidation, and reports are available instantly.
60+
Franchises on one system
Every franchise submits through the same portal instead of sheets, messages and printed lists.
2-3 hrs
Saved every day
Daily cleanup dropped to under twenty minutes, and delivery accuracy improved with system lists.
Transformation
Before and after the Zoho implementation.
Project impact
A franchise supply chain that runs without a single spreadsheet.
Zoho Commerce is normally used for retail storefronts. Using it as a franchise supply portal took some reshaping, but once it was linked with Inventory, Books, CRM and Desk, the whole environment behaved like one product. Franchises stopped calling for basic information, delivery lists became accurate, billing became reliable, and the team recovered two to three hours a day. The setup will hold as they grow past 100 franchises.
Zoho implementation partner
Running your network on spreadsheets?
Datahikes helps franchise and distribution businesses implement, customise and integrate Zoho Commerce, CRM, Inventory, Books and Desk into one connected system.
Talk to us