overview

House of Funk, a unique brewery and coffee roastery based in North Vancouver, is dedicated to creating “funky” beers inspired by wild yeast strains and distinct flavors. Founded by Darren Hollett, who has over 15 years of brewing experience and a passion for all things funk, House of Funk focuses on craft beers and third-wave coffee that embrace bold, innovative flavors. You may also find a funk band playing on a Friday night.

challenge

Before implementing Ekos, House of Funk relied on spreadsheets and a basic ordering system, which led to inefficiencies and a lack of transparency across departments. “We were using different tools to achieve the same thing, but it was time-consuming, inefficient and did nothing to help us with organization,” says Hollett. 

Without a centralized system, team members had to switch between various software for tasks like inventory management, sales tracking, and production planning, which often led to inaccuracies and duplication of work. Additionally, staying on top of critical brewing tasks, such as tracking fermentation stages, proved challenging without a specialized tool that could keep the entire team on the same page.

the Ekos Solution

House of Funk found Ekos’ cloud-based platform to be the ideal solution, providing an intuitive and integrated platform that simplified their day-to-day operations. Hollett, who had experience with Ekos from a previous role, knew the software could handle the complexities of a craft brewery and loved its user-friendly interface. “Ekos is the backbone of our entire business and is our one source of truth,” he says. “It also connects to our accounting software, which saves us a lot of time and gives us the transparency we need.”

With Ekos, House of Funk can efficiently manage tasks across multiple areas, including inventory, production, sales, and distribution. The brewery uses Ekos to handle all its raw ingredients, packaging, and finished goods inventories, with all data seamlessly integrating into QuickBooks. Ekos also assists the team with planning and forecasting, which enables House of Funk to better align its production schedules with its packaging and ingredient needs.

results

Since implementing Ekos, House of Funk has seen significant improvements in organization, efficiency, and accuracy. Ekos has been instrumental in keeping their team accountable and up-to-date on daily tasks. “Ekos forces us to be organized,” he says. “We can’t go many days without updating it. Before, our inventory would be out of whack, and it would take us hours at the end of the month to figure it out.” 

The compounding time savings from organizational efficiencies has been huge for House of Funk. “We don’t have to chase down fermentation or packaging data anymore, payment processing is easier, and our balance sheet and financials are always current,” he says.

Ekos has also simplified reporting for regulatory requirements, which Hollett finds particularly valuable. House of Funk is required to report weekly to their liquor board, and Ekos produces the necessary reports quickly and accurately, freeing up 3-5 hours a week that would otherwise be spent compiling data manually.

Additionally, having a single, trustworthy source of information has been a crucial benefit for House of Funk. With Ekos, Hollett can quickly access data to make informed sales and inventory decisions, knowing that all teams are aligned on the same information. “For us, organization is the biggest benefit of Ekos,” Hollett says, “but also having one sole source of information we can trust.”

Worth Every Penny

House of Funk’s experience with Ekos highlights the transformative impact the right software can have on a craft brewery’s operations. By centralizing essential tasks and integrating seamlessly with its accounting system, Ekos has delivered significant time savings and vastly improved organization across all departments. 

For breweries that may still be struggling with spreadsheets or disconnected systems, Hollett’s advice is clear: “Price is always a concern, but breweries need to consider the various software subscriptions Ekos replaces and the time it saves. Ekos keeps you on top of things so nothing slips through the cracks, and that organization is invaluable. If you don’t know where you’re going, it’s hard to get there.”

As House of Funk continues to innovate and expand its product line, Hollett is confident in Ekos providing them with the ability to adapt, scale, and maintain the quality their customers expect.