# Kurrajong Kitchen: Ethos of Continuous Improvement Achieves Accuracy and High Growth

Kurrajong Kitchen has grown from selling cellophane-wrapped Lavosh flatbreads from a family restaurant to supplying Australia’s largest supermarkets and Virgin Airlines. That growth can be attributed to Kurrajong Kitchen’s continuous-improvement mindset in their manufacturing processes, but it wasn’t until they shifted to MYOB Advanced that they had the oversight to do the same for their business systems.

## Problem

### Software They’d Outgrown

Karen Lebsanft and her husband Ben have been running Kurrajong Kitchen for over two decades, growing it from a side business to supplying some of Australia’s biggest retailers. MYOB AccountRight Premier had suited them well in the early days, but as they grew, they needed better inventory control, a better overview of the company, and better traceability – critical for compliance with HACCP. Karen explains, “For admin and inventory control, we ran separate spreadsheets. That meant we were working in funnels – not holistically. We’d simply grown beyond it.”

Kurrajong Kitchen also operates multiple companies – one manufactures, another manages sales and distribution, and a third offers white-labelled baking. Manually connecting these entities took hours and still left them without any overarching view of the business. Stocktaking and CRM tracking, procurement handling, and shipping orders were also more difficult than they needed to be.

“We needed something overarching that would let us improve in business, in technology, in management of stock, and ultimately in cashflow.”

## Solution

### Best Fit and Business Continuity

Karen went looking for an ERP that would deliver them what they needed “in a cost effective manner.” Alongside MYOB Advanced, the company also considered a leading software system in the small business market. They decided it would require too many add-ons and mean they’d have to change the way they did business. Pricier software from a much larger company was rejected because Karen couldn’t “justify the ROI.” MYOB Advanced was just right and had the added benefit of delivering continuity for this ‘MYOB business’. Kurrajong Kitchen have been using various MYOB products almost since they launched.

“Things are always moving and changing, so having continuity where you can is important.”

Transitioning to MYOB Advanced, says Karen, was “necessarily” painful, but her MYOB Platinum Partner, Stratus Group, was always on hand to help.

“They’ve guided us through those pains – they’ve been a handholding partner!” says Karen.

She also loved that MYOB would make it easy to copy and upload receipts: “I could see hints of that mythical paperless accounts office!”

Michael Pendred, CEO of Stratus adds: “Kurrajong Kitchen are one of our strongest clients in the food and beverage industry. MYOB Advanced is working well, and we’re pleased to help build on this strong foundation, deliver further improvements, and support their growth.”

## Outcome

### Business Oversight Now a Snap

Moving to any new system can come with a degree of worry. As Karen puts it, Kurrajong Kitchen couldn’t “afford to be one of those horror stories you hear about.” After the initial implementation period, she’s breathed a sigh of relief: “We’re seeing that yes, we did make the right decision, and that’s a good feeling.”

Quick improvements she’s made have helped with that feeling of confidence. Karen says: “I know now where I can improve inventory control to see cost savings. It’s an immediate win.”

While the company is still “getting there” on understanding reports, Karen is already seeing the benefits of timely access to accurate information. Whereas reports once took hours each month to create, using MYOB seems to happen almost instantly.

“With inventory control, we can push a button and double-check anything. This gives us greater traceability on where things are. We can see why things happened,” she says.

For Karen, moving to MYOB Advanced has delivered what the company used to lack: accountability across the business. “Now, we can see the overarching picture. It’s almost a sense of taking a breath – you can trust that the number is right, instead of having to check it.”

The company was “playing catch up” with data entry, but as more numbers go into MYOB Advanced, says Karen, the more accurate it’s getting. “We’ve measured it against our old spreadsheets – it’s a good feeling that we’re seeing better accuracy and getting to that data faster.”

According to Karen, their continuous-improvement mindset will ensure they continue to unlock benefits from the system. “There’s so much more it can do for us that we’re not using – we keep coming up with other things. We’re going to get back around the table every so often and assess where we are with MYOB Advanced, explore the wins and look at what we want to improve on.”

The company is looking into integrating with their retailers’ systems and making use of the CRM module to improve marketing, for example.

“There's a lot more to be done,” says Karen.

### Summary
| Before | After |
| --- | --- |
| + Manual spreadsheets wasting time. | + Automated reports save hours each month. |
| + No integration between the company's multiple entities. | + Integration between entities gives unprecedented accountability. |
| + Lack of inventory control and oversight costing the company money. | + Tighter inventory control delivers immediate cost savings. |
| + Little and difficult traceability. | + Touch-of-a-button traceability.