For a small business or home producer, everything seems simple at first — a few products, several customers, and an Excel spreadsheet where costs and orders can be tracked. However, as the business grows, manual processes begin to hinder efficiency. This was also the experience of SIA “Līvmale”, operating under the brand Wild’n’Free and offering a variety of wild game meat products.
“Today, the company’s assortment includes around 40 different products, an online store, and a growing customer base. Growth became the main reason why we started seriously thinking about digitalization and using co-financing programmes,” shares the company’s owner and manager, Justs Dzedons.
Located in Melnsils, Wild’n’Free produces wild game meat products using only ethically and legally hunted game. The brand’s slogan is: “As natural as natural can be.” During the summer season, the company also offers homemade wild game burgers and steaks for visitors of the Northern Kurzeme coast to enjoy at its home café. In addition, Wild’n’Free participates in various outdoor events — such as city festivals and fairs — with a mobile food trailer, offering visitors venison products, burgers, and “fast food–slow food” meals.
When Excel Is No Longer Enough
A Management System That Shows the Real Situation
Initially, all production accounting was managed in Excel spreadsheets. The company owner admits that although he enjoys working with spreadsheets, as production volumes increased, the amount of time spent on accounting became disproportionate:
“I realized that I was spending almost three days a week in Excel, counting cheese, pepper, salt, chili, sauces, and trying to pull everything together.”
A major issue was not only the growing number of products, but also the increasing variety of raw materials and price fluctuations. One product might contain five ingredients, another fifteen or even twenty. Moreover, each raw material comes in different purchase batches and at different prices.
“It’s only logical that, as a manufacturer, you want to understand what you have produced and how much it has cost. If you sell something, you need to understand what forms the price and what your profit margin will be,” he emphasizes.
Even seemingly insignificant details became problematic in everyday operations — for example, a few grams of pepper or unused cabbage leaves. Individually, these costs seem minimal, but over a year they become substantial.
“For one batch, you might use three grams of pepper. Over a year, that’s no longer three grams but 15 kilograms. And 15 kilograms of pepper definitely costs something,” the entrepreneur explains. As a result, by the end of the year there was a feeling that several thousand euros had been spent without a clear understanding of where the money had gone.
To solve this issue, with co-financing from the Recovery Fund, the company implemented the MONEO business management and enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, customized to the company’s specific needs. The system includes precise recipes, actual consumption volumes, working hours, and costs.
“Without a system that accurately tracks everything item by item and monitors inventory levels, it would now be very difficult to operate,” says the company owner.
Now every product has a precisely defined recipe in the system, while employees additionally record the actual quantities used. This makes it possible to compare theoretical costs with real production costs.
The system quickly helped identify problematic products and inefficiencies in various positions.
“In the first couple of months, I noticed that several products had actual production costs very different from what I had originally assumed,” says Justs.
Sometimes the issue was more expensive raw materials, other times unplanned purchases or inefficient production processes. These insights helped the company make much more accurate decisions regarding individual products — for example, increasing prices, changing recipes, or discontinuing certain products altogether.
Three Days of Work Reduced to a Few Hours
The implemented management system has also significantly simplified everyday administrative work. The system tracks not only raw materials, but also the hours employees spend producing specific products.
“Now, at the end of the month when salaries need to be calculated, I no longer have to go through long lists manually. I can calculate wages much faster, and the risk of human error has also decreased. The overall benefit is very noticeable. What used to take me three days a week in Excel spreadsheets can now be done in just a few hours,” the entrepreneur explains.
However, Justs emphasizes that implementing digitalization is not an instant process. It took approximately six months to fully master the system. In the beginning, there were plenty of mistakes — missing work hours, incorrect prices, or wrong ingredients selected. Still, according to the entrepreneur, the time invested in learning the software has paid off in the long term.
Currently, the company is already taking the next step in its development by creating an artificial intelligence (AI) solution for customer service in its online store with the help of co-financing. The plan is for the system to automatically process orders, forward them to couriers, and communicate with customers after delivery. AI will also analyze customer habits and help prepare personalized offers.
“We have concluded that modern customers value communication and the feeling that they are not forgotten. If you do not communicate with customers at all, they may simply stop buying from you. Small online stores often lack exactly this kind of fast and regular communication, while large retailers already do it automatically,” says Justs.
Time Is the Most Valuable Resource: Don’t Be Afraid of Co-Financing Projects
Various support instruments provided through programmes of Latvian Investment and Development Agency, the Rural Support Service, and other funding schemes have played a major role in the company’s growth. The company has already implemented several — around eight in total — co-financed projects, while others are currently still in progress.
Justs encourages small entrepreneurs not to be afraid of involving professionals in project preparation.
“There are plenty of consultants in Latvia who specialize in this. My advice is — do not regret the money you pay them, because in any case you will save both your nerves and your time. Entrepreneurs are often afraid of bureaucracy, but professionals help avoid mistakes and significantly simplify the process of writing and submitting projects.”
Justs believes that digitalization is not a trend, but a necessity — especially for small businesses. The main benefit is the ability to dedicate saved time to more important activities such as sales, marketing, and development.
“Anything that becomes automated or robotized in some way helps save time. Business growth is often slowed down by routine tasks — if you spend your time dealing with dry numbers, reports, or repetitive work that does not contribute to your ability to sell, business growth is being held back,” says Justs.
In his opinion, digitalization allows entrepreneurs to focus on what matters most — attracting customers, increasing sales, and developing the company.
“The bigger your sales capacity, the bigger your business can become,” concludes the founder of Wild’n’Free.
Latvian entrepreneurs have access to a broad range of state and European Union-funded support instruments for business development, all compiled on the unified business portal business.gov.lv and its subsite liaa.business.gov.lv. There, companies can find information about various programmes — ranging from funding for innovation and new product development, export promotion, and international cooperation opportunities to grants for business digitalization, technology implementation, and productivity improvement.
The project is co-financed by the European Union Recovery Fund (NextGenerationEU) under the Cohesion Policy Programme for 2021–2027. The article was prepared with support from the Recovery Fund, and the views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.
