Rising Costs, Stagnant Tools, and Mounting Pressure

Foodservice customers were still placing orders by phone, text, and email - an unpredictable and time-consuming process that created bottlenecks for both customers and staff. The company’s legacy website, expensive to build and even harder to maintain, frequently contained inaccurate product information and offered no real utility to buyers.

Inside the business, teams were pulled in multiple directions. Manual entry slowed operations, pricing and product data were difficult to keep updated, and employees had no reliable digital channel to help customers order quickly or explore Fox River’s expanding catalog. The lack of a modern platform made it challenging to scale growth efficiently.

“We were in a tough spot. We needed to grow fast—like right now. We weren’t looking for something cool to try; we needed a real solution to help us survive.”
— Dan Probst, President, Fox River Dairy

Fox River needed a platform that would:

• Streamline foodservice ordering and reduce phone/email dependency
• Integrate tightly with their ERP system, Traverse
• Give customers a clean, reliable digital experience
• Be fast, affordable, and simple to maintain

Launching a Modern Foodservice Platform in Under 12 Weeks

In partnership with Pepper, Fox River Dairy implemented a digital growth platform designed for speed, reliability, and long-term scalability.

A Fast, Focused Implementation

Working with Pepper’s team, Fox River completed onboarding in just under 12 weeks, ahead of the original timeline. Despite early concerns about ERP integration, Pepper’s developers collaborated directly with Fox River’s software consultants to establish a secure and reliable connection between systems.

“We spent those first weeks being extremely diligent with testing,” said Zach Pierson, Implementation Manager at Pepper. “By the time Fox River put the app in front of a single customer, we were 100% confident it would work flawlessly—and because of that, the rollout moved unbelievably fast.”

A Unified Customer Experience

Pepper also delivered an integrated website that automatically syncs with Fox River’s product catalog and app data. Previously, Fox River had spent Over $20,000 on a static site that quickly became outdated and costly to maintain. Updating products or images required expensive vendor fees and hours of manual work.

With Pepper, the experience changed overnight:

• A brand-new, fully functional website was built in a single afternoon.
• All item updates in the Pepper app now automatically appear on the website.
• Customers can browse accurate, real-time pricing, inventory, and product data.

“Our old website cost $20,000 and was useless after a year. With Pepper, it’s perfect, and every update I make in the app shows up online. It’s exactly what we needed.” — Dan Probst

Engaging Customers and Driving Adoption

Fox River executed a soft launch, personally onboarding customers via calls, emails, and in-person visits. Every time a customer placed an order, Dan and his team re-entered it through the Pepper app to build fluency internally and reinforce adoption.

• Orders from the app quickly became standard across accounts.

Within three weeks, most foodservice customers were actively using the app.

Measurable Growth, Stronger Operations, and a Platform that Pays For Itself

Growth & Financial Impact

While Fox River’s data systems make exact quantification difficult, the results are clear across operations:

• Double-Digit growth in foodservice revenue among customers using Pepper.
  
• Warehouse staff reported “bigger orders than ever before,” confirming increased case sizes and order frequency.
  
• The platform has already paid for itself many times over.

“I can’t give you an exact number, but the growth is significant. You can feel it. My warehouse guys tell me they’re pulling more product for the same customers. That’s all I need to know.”
— Dan Probst

Fox River estimates that the app is recouping its cost easily, requiring a modest monthly lift in foodservice sales to break even, a benchmark the company has surpassed comfortably.

Reliability & Ease of Use

The Pepper app has proven remarkably stable - no outages, no glitches, no missed orders. Dan describes it as “very reliable”, noting that even as the product catalog grew to hundreds of items, performance remained consistent.

Customers love the convenience. Some still prefer to call in, but many have fully embraced the app after Dan personally demonstrated how easy it is.

“When a customer calls to order, I walk them through the app while I do it myself. Then I tell them, ‘See how easy that was? You could have done that yourself.’ Most switch right after.”
— Dan Probst

A Website That Finally Works

The launch of the new website, connected directly to Pepper’s database, transformed Fox River’s online presence from a liability into an asset.

• The site updates automatically with new products and price changes.
• Customers praise its simplicity and design.
• It cost a fraction of previous attempts and required almost no maintenance.
  

Internally, the real-time sync ensures consistency across sales channels - no more confusion about which catalog version is correct.

A Catalyst for Recovery and Growth

Pepper didn’t just modernize Fox River Dairy’s tech stack, it helped stabilize the business when it mattered most. Coming out of an expansion period that dramatically increased operating costs, Fox River needed a quick, reliable path to higher sales. Pepper delivered that boost.

“We needed a shot in the arm, and Pepper was it. It’s already paying for itself—and it’s only going to get better as we get more customers on it.”
— Dan Probst

The partnership also set the stage for future capabilities, including invoice integrations, payments, and digital advertising, all of which will continue expanding the company’s digital footprint and profitability.

Looking ahead

By adopting Pepper’s platform, Fox River Dairy turned a moment of financial pressure into a story of growth and renewal. In under three months, the company launched a fully integrated digital ordering experience, rebuilt its website in hours, and empowered both staff and customers with better tools.

“It’s rare to find a company that delivers great tech and great people. With Pepper, I didn’t have to compromise. It works beautifully, and the partnership has been just as good.”
— Dan Probst, President, Fox River Dairy

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