Whole Brain Consulting

In today’s modern multi-tier supply chain system, sourcing needs and production processes are often spread across numerous suppliers in multiple countries to maximize economic efficiency, but often at the cost of greater transparency and resilience. This problem is compounded by the increased market volatility triggered by COVID-19, along with sweeping regulatory changes, which have compelled organizations, especially in the food and beverage industry, to re-evaluate their complex global supply chains to stay on top of the emerging supplier risks. To mitigate these risks and build a diverse and efficient supply chain, food companies need a trusted partner that can help them establish strategic relationships with their co-packers and co-manufacturers. Enter Whole Brain Consulting—a consulting firm that specializes in outsourced operations in the food industry and works with multiple co-manufacturers/co-packers, as well as, CPG (consumer packaged goods) firms to facilitate operations management, sourcing of ingredients and packaging, food quality and safety (USDA/FDA/ TTB), research and development, and private equity due diligence. The company also handles all contract negotiations between food companies and co-packers to insure relationship longevity and production efficiency.

A certified minority-owned business, Whole Brain Consulting integrates itself with its clients’ team and provides them with high-level reviews on what raw materials are being purchased, what the purchasing cadence is, and what type of demand forecasting and planning they are attempting to use. Based on these reviews, the company helps clients identify key areas where they are overspending and delivers effective strategies to reduce costs. “While procuring raw materials, companies often focus all their attention on Just in Time (JIT) inventory management and miss out on one important question, ‘Is this the price I should be paying?’” notes Brandon Hernandez, Founder and Senior Partner at Whole Brain Consulting. The company’s team of experts helps answer this question by conducting a complete supply chain analysis to identify if the client is receiving the best price for the raw materials and helps them optimize costs.

As a technology-agnostic company, Whole Brain Consulting integrates themselves with existing technology the client is already using and complements that use by assessing whether the right long term strategies are being utilized. If not, Whole Brain Consulting recommends the necessary changes and helps them interview different software vendors and select the one that best fits their needs, as well as, strategize stabilization techniques for cashflow and manufacturing/supply chain efficiency. “We stabilize our clients’ supply chain and standardize their internal methods to ensure that the technology/platform in use and the deployed strategy align with their needs, in the present as well as the future,” explains Hernandez.

Today, the food and beverage industry is marked by rigorous food safety and regulation standards along with the rising need for Direct to Consumer (D2C) platforms, which has put raw material and packaging suppliers under tremendous pressure. Whole Brain Consulting continued to serve its clients even during these unprecedented times, conducting educational events on how to strategically set up D2C platforms and helping manufacturers comply with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) laws. The company also supported clients in selecting the co-packers that were best suited for them. “Smaller brands that partnered with large size co-packers were the worst affected during the pandemic. As demand for products increased, co packers shifted their focus on larger legacy brands dealing with bigger bulk orders. We advised our small and mid-sized clients to collaborate with smaller co-packers and helped them keep their business afloat during the crisis,” says William Madden, Senior Partner at Whole Brain Consulting.

While onboarding new clients, Whole Brain Consulting provides them with a designated resource, a team of experts, to identify their pain points and discover gaps in their supply chain. The company’s ability to maintain long-term relationships stems from its systematic approach to resolving client’s problems. With its dedicated resources, Whole Brain Consulting was able to help one of its clients significantly reduce costs with an innovative solution to import raw material from overseas where it was disposed of as a by-product. The company also advised them to install dedicated equipment that reduced costs further. Over the course of five years, Whole Brain Consulting was able to help the brand increase its value from under $500,000 to over $50 million. The company also optimized the client’s distribution strategies to get the product directly into the customer’s hands. This is but one instance where Whole Brain Consulting helped its client steer their business toward success and reduce costs without compromising on product quality.

With a keen focus on developing its portfolio, Whole Brain Consulting aims to expand its services to emerging non-alcoholic microbreweries and help them with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) compliance. Whole Brain Consulting looks to extend its offerings and support to emerging companies in different verticals and help them meet the industry’s compliance requirements.