The ERP.
Foodline AI runs purchasing, inventory and lots, the warehouse, delivery, the B2B store, invoicing and the general ledger on one record (platform).
Data consulting
Food distribution data consulting: clean data for your ERP, AI and robotics
AssessItem file, customers, prices and lots
CleanNames, units, pack sizes, duplicates
MigrateInto the Foodline AI ERP, checked before cutover
Keep cleanProduct record kept current after go-live
Get readyFor AI order entry today, robotics next
Included with Foodline AI, or hire us as a standalone service. Cleanup is quoted separately; Foodline Pay is an add-on.
Short answer: Foodline AI's food distribution data consulting gets a distributor's data clean, connected and ready for AI and robotics. Our own data team assesses your item, customer, pricing, lot and order data, cleans it, migrates it into the Foodline AI ERP and keeps your product record clean after go-live. Data consulting is included with Foodline AI, and distributors on another ERP can hire us for it as a standalone service. Foodline AI is also the ERP, and it takes customer payments through Foodline Pay, an add-on, so the data we fix is the data your online store, warehouse, invoices and payments run on. Product data cleanup is quoted separately.
What is food distribution data consulting?
Food distribution data consulting is the work of getting a distributor's operating data right: the item master, customer accounts, prices, lots and order history that every order, pick, delivery and invoice depends on. In most distributors that data has grown for years across an old ERP, spreadsheets and an ordering app. Item names are abbreviated, pack sizes and units disagree, catch-weight items are set up as fixed weight, customer prices are stale and lots are missing dates. It shows up as mispicks, credits, invoices that need fixing and reports nobody trusts.
A data consultant finds those problems, fixes them and puts rules in place so they don't come back. Foodline AI's data team does that work inside the Foodline AI ERP, so every fix lands where the work happens. If you run another ERP, we can take it on as a standalone project.
What our data team does
| Service | What we do | Where it shows up |
|---|---|---|
| Data assessment | Review your item file, customer list, price lists and lot records with you, and show what needs fixing before any data is touched | A plan you approve first |
| Product data cleanup (quoted separately) | A one-time cleanup of your existing catalog: buyer-friendly names, product images, AI-ready descriptions, allergen and storage metadata and clean categories (product data cleanup) | Your B2B store, AI search and order entry |
| ERP data migration | Items, customers, vendors, price lists, open orders, lots and history, with units, pack sizes, categories, names and duplicates standardized on the way (data migration) | Day one in the new system |
| Catch weight and pricing data | Catch-weight settings on variable-weight items, plus price levels, contract prices and order guides, set up and checked before cutover | The weighing screen, customer prices and margin |
| Traceability data | Lots with expiry dates, and the FSMA 204 key data elements captured at receiving (FSMA 204) | Trace-backs and recalls |
| AI and robotics readiness | Your data checked against the physical AI readiness checklist: lots, locations, exact pick instructions and approvals | AI order entry today, automation later |
| Ongoing product data management | New and changed items kept current after go-live: names, descriptions, categories, pack sizes, allergens and unlimited product images | Every day after cutover |
Included with Foodline AI, or as a standalone service
Data consulting is included with Foodline AI. If you run another ERP, you can hire our data team for a standalone project.
| With Foodline AI | On another ERP | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | The data assessment, migration into Foodline AI, catch weight, pricing and lot setup, the AI and robotics readiness review, and ongoing product data management | A standalone project: the data assessment, product data cleanup, and catch weight, pricing, traceability and AI-readiness reviews |
| Price | Included in the subscription. Product data cleanup is quoted separately | Scoped and quoted with you before work begins |
Pricing isn't published. If a source record needs unusually heavy cleanup, we scope it with you before work begins, never as a surprise invoice. Foodline Pay is an add-on.
One partner for the ERP, the data and the payments
The data consulting.
Our own team assesses, cleans and migrates the data in it and keeps the product record current, included in the subscription.
The payments.
Foodline Pay takes card and ACH payments from your customers on the same record as the invoice, at competitive processing rates. It is an add-on (pricing).
Because it is one record, a corrected price or pack size is used on every new order, pick and invoice, and each payment is applied to the invoice it pays.
How a data engagement works
- 01Assess. Send an item export and your price lists. We review them with you and list what needs fixing.
- 02Plan. You see what will change before we touch the data.
- 03Clean and migrate. We fix the records, set up catch weight, pricing and lots, and move them into Foodline AI.
- 04Validate. Counts, pounds by lot, open orders, aging and balances are checked against your old system before cutover (migration checklist).
- 05Keep it clean. After go-live, ongoing product data management keeps the product record current.
Clean data can be pilot-ready in three to four days, and most full moves take one to two weeks.
Why it matters
Margin.
Wrong pack sizes, stale prices and catch-weight items billed at a nominal weight leak money one line at a time (catch weight invoicing).
Your online store.
Customers can only order what they can find. Clean names, images, categories and allergens are what search and filters run on.
AI.
The Order Agent can only match "2 cs mozz" to the right item, unit and price when the item and the order guide are clean (AI order entry).
Traceability.
FDA can ask for traceability records within 24 hours, so lot data has to be complete before a recall, not after.
Robotics.
A machine can't guess which lot, which location or how many. Your data has to say (data for AI and robotics).
Read more: why data cleaning matters for food distributors.
Frequently asked questions
What is food distribution data consulting?
It is the work of getting a distributor's operating data right: the item master, customer accounts, prices, lots and order history that every order, pick, delivery and invoice depends on. A data consultant finds what's wrong, fixes it and puts rules in place so it stays fixed. Foodline AI's data team does that work inside the ERP your business runs on.
What data does Foodline AI clean and migrate?
Items, customers, vendors, price lists, open orders, lots and history. On the way in, we standardize units, pack sizes, categories and names, merge duplicates, and set up catch-weight items, price levels, contract prices and order guides.
Is data consulting included with Foodline AI?
Yes. Data consulting is included in the Foodline AI subscription: the data assessment, data migration, catch weight, pricing and lot setup, the AI and robotics readiness review, and ongoing product data management with unlimited product images. The one-time product data cleanup service is an add-on, quoted separately, and unusually heavy cleanup is scoped with you before work begins, never as a surprise invoice.
Can we hire Foodline AI for data consulting if we use another ERP?
Yes. Foodline AI's data team also takes on standalone data consulting projects for food distributors on another ERP: the data assessment, product data cleanup, and catch weight, pricing, traceability and AI-readiness reviews. Standalone projects are scoped and quoted with you before work begins.
How long does a data project take?
It depends on the state of your data. Clean data can be pilot-ready in three to four days, and most full moves take one to two weeks. Every project starts with a review of your files and a plan you see before we touch anything.
How does Foodline AI get data ready for AI and robotics?
We check your data against the physical AI readiness checklist: every lot and expiry date captured at receiving, every case in a known location, every order line an exact pick instruction, and a named person approving exceptions. Then we fix the records and give your team a list to confirm on the floor, such as locations and counts. Foodline AI runs that decision layer for human selectors today; it does not build robots.
What makes Foodline AI's data consulting different?
Foodline AI is the ERP, the data consulting and the payments in one. The team that cleans and migrates your data also runs the system it lives in, and Foodline Pay, an add-on, takes customer payments on the same record as the invoice, so a corrected price or pack size is used on every new order and invoice, and each payment is applied to the invoice it pays.
See it run on your own numbers.
Thirty minutes. We load a slice of your catalogue and show you the routines firing against your real order history, not a canned demo.
Book a walkthrough