Skip to content

Cleveland Kitchen - PoC Analysis

Date: February 10, 2026
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Industry: Food Manufacturing - Fermented Foods (Kimchi, Pickles, Krauts)
ERP: WhereFour (inventory management) + QuickBooks


Cleveland Kitchen is a fermented foods manufacturer producing:

  • Kimchi (classic, spicy, and variations)
  • Krauts (sauerkraut with various flavors: caraway, curry, etc.)
  • Pickles (dill, bread & butter)
  • Salsas (fermented red and green)

Order Volume:

  • Total: 500-600 orders/month
  • EDI (SPS platform): ~90% of orders (automated via SPS)
  • Manual email orders: ~10% (50-100 orders/month)

Current Team:

  • Ben Bvandertill (Customer Service Manager) - oversees order flow
  • Sam Buddenbaum (Operations/Management)
  • Philippines outsourced team - manual order entry (fixed rate per head)

  • 50-100 manual email orders/month
  • Processing time: ~10-15 minutes per order (entry + verification + logistics coordination)
  • Outsourced to Philippines team (cost: fixed rate per head)
  • Varied formats: PDF attachments (most), email body text, Excel files
  • Major pain: UPC codes vary by customer (12-digit vs. 14-digit, leading/trailing zeros)
  • Customer descriptions highly varied - no standardization
  • Mapping project when onboarding SPS EDI took significant time
  • Cross-reference table critical for matching customer IDs → Cleveland Kitchen SKUs
  • Already outsourcing order entry (less political complexity)
  • Not replacing US jobs - enhancing Philippines team efficiency or reducing dependency
  • Comfortable with AI/automation concepts

Strategic Value: WhereFour Integration

Section titled “✅ Strategic Value: WhereFour Integration”
  • First WhereFour customer = opens up food distribution market
  • WhereFour appears common in food/beverage industry
  • Building integration unlocks future customers in similar verticals
  • Cleveland-based = easy to visit, hands-on collaboration
  • Willing to be “design partner” for R&D phase
  • Open to flexible pricing/pilot structure

Phase 1: Email Extraction + Validation (Weeks 1-4)

Section titled “Phase 1: Email Extraction + Validation (Weeks 1-4)”
  1. Email Ingestion

    • Monitor shared customer service inbox
    • Triage: order vs. non-order emails
    • Handle PDF attachments, email body text, Excel files
  2. Field Extraction

    • PO number (if present - some food service customers don’t use formal POs)
    • Customer identification (company name, contact)
    • NEW: Shipping address, billing address, location/warehouse (all distinct fields)
    • Line items: product description, quantity, price
    • NEW: Discount/allowance line items (negative pricing) - must be flagged visually
    • Requested delivery date (2-week lead time standard)
    • Special instructions
    • NOTE: Cisco orders have heavy contract/boilerplate language → filter noise, extract key fields only
  3. UPC/SKU Normalization

    • Detect 12-digit vs. 14-digit UPCs
    • Handle leading/trailing zeros
    • Map customer product descriptions → Cleveland Kitchen master SKU list
    • Build cross-reference table over time (AI learns customer-specific terminology)
  4. Pricing Validation

    • Check if customer/SKU combination exists in WhereFour pricing tiers
    • Flag for manual review if new pairing (first-time order for that combo)
    • Extract allowances/discounts as separate line items
  5. “Same as Last Time” Orders

    • Detect reference to previous order (“same as last week”, “repeat order from 1/15”)
    • Extract reference order number or date
    • Human review required to pull previous order details
  6. Human-in-the-Loop Validation

    • CSR or Philippines team reviews extracted data
    • Corrects any mismatches
    • Approves for submission to WhereFour

Phase 2: WhereFour Integration (Weeks 5-10) (Conditional on Phase 1 success)

Section titled “Phase 2: WhereFour Integration (Weeks 5-10) (Conditional on Phase 1 success)”
  1. API Connection to WhereFour

    • Product lookup endpoint
    • Customer lookup endpoint
    • Order creation endpoint
    • Pricing tier validation
  2. Order Submission

    • Create order in WhereFour with validated data
    • Link to QuickBooks (existing WhereFour → QB API remains unchanged)
    • Trigger logistics flow (existing WhereFour automation)
  3. Error Handling

    • NEVER block due to low inventory (Cleveland Kitchen manages MRP in Excel)
    • Flag pricing mismatches
    • Flag new customer/SKU pairings
    • Surface errors to CSR team for resolution

  1. EDI orders via SPS - Already automated, ~90% of volume
  2. MRP/inventory planning - Runs externally in Excel, not in WhereFour
  3. Logistics scheduling - Handled by logistics team post-order entry
  4. Production planning - Fermentation scheduling remains manual
  5. QuickBooks integration - Existing WhereFour → QB API unchanged

  • WhereFour: Cloud-based inventory management software
  • QuickBooks: Accounting system (connected via API)
  • Current flow: WhereFour → QuickBooks (automated) → Logistics team
  • Integration status: ⚠️ WhereFour integration does not exist yet - Cleveland Kitchen is first customer
  • API documentation: To be provided by WhereFour or Cleveland Kitchen IT
  1. Products - erp_product_id, name, description, UPC (12 & 14-digit), category, pricing
  2. Customers - customer_id, company_name, ship-to addresses, customer type (food service vs. retail)
  3. Cross-Refs - customer UPC/description → Cleveland Kitchen master SKU mappings
  4. Pricing Tiers - customer-level pricing agreements (built in WhereFour)
  5. Allowances - discount SKUs (negative pricing) mapped to customer agreements
  • Status: ⚠️ Does not exist yet - Cleveland Kitchen is first WhereFour customer
  • Action: Build new WhereFour Mockoon mock for dev/testing
  • Endpoints needed:
    1. GET /products - product lookup with UPC variations
    2. GET /customers - customer lookup
    3. POST /orders - create order
    4. GET /pricing-tiers - customer-specific pricing validation
    5. (Optional) GET /order-history - for “same as last time” reference orders

Business Rules (Critical for Action Layer)

Section titled “Business Rules (Critical for Action Layer)”
  • Challenge: Customers use inconsistent UPC formats and descriptions
  • 12-digit UPC: 850004476017 (most common)
  • 14-digit UPC: 00850004476017 (adds leading zeros)
  • Some customers drop leading zeros, others add trailing zeros
  • Solution: Normalize all UPC variations, maintain cross-reference table per customer
  • CRITICAL: Do NOT block orders due to low/no inventory
  • Cleveland Kitchen’s MRP (Material Requirements Planning) runs externally in Excel
  • WhereFour inventory data is not reliable for decision-making
  • Orders must enter WhereFour regardless of stock status
  • Production planning team handles fermentation scheduling (1-week lead time)
  • Pricing tiers built at customer level in WhereFour
  • New customer/SKU combo = flag for manual review (CSR approves pricing)
  • Some customers have “everyday low cost” agreements (e.g., Giant Eagle @ $20/unit vs. list $21.50)
  • Allowances = discounts/rebates as separate line items (negative pricing)
    • Example: Order 6 SKUs → 6 allowance lines = 12 total lines
    • UI Requirement: Show visual chip/indicator (e.g., yellow badge “discount applied”) so reviewers don’t override
    • Reason: Trust ERP price over PDF price; surface the adjustment so humans understand what happened
  • Shipping address = where products ship
  • Billing address = different from shipping (for some customers)
  • Location/Warehouse = customer’s distribution center (may differ from both shipping + billing)
  • Implementation: Each address type becomes a separate flag in WhereFour lookup
  • Validation: Must validate customer + shipping address combo in WhereFour (determines pricing tier)
  • Standard request: 2 weeks advance notice
  • Reality: Customers vary (some give less notice)
  • Constraint: Fermentation takes ~1 week for most products
  • Inventory target: 2-3 weeks on hand (but often hand-to-mouth)
  • Some customers order by reference: “Same as order from Jan 15” or “Repeat last week’s order”
  • Requires: Lookup of previous order in WhereFour order history
  • Human review: CSR confirms quantities, pricing haven’t changed
  • Future enhancement: AI could auto-suggest previous order match

RESOLVED ✅ (from March 5 onsite meeting)

Section titled “RESOLVED ✅ (from March 5 onsite meeting)”
  1. Excel File Extraction

    • Both .xlsx (Giant Eagle format) and .xls (Heinen’s legacy format) now supported
    • Fixed: openpyxl + xlrd fallback for binary .xls files
    • Demo blocked by this on 3/5 → fixed in staging the same day
  2. Giant Eagle & Heinen’s Priority Suppliers

    • Giant Eagle: Orders come in .xlsx format, ~15 lines per order, all at $20/unit (custom pricing)
    • Heinen’s: Orders come in .xls format, legacy binary Excel
    • Both are majority of manual orders (need real-world walkthrough video)
    • Plan: Produce demo video with actual extractions from both formats
  3. Discount/Allowance Handling

    • Cleveland Kitchen uses “custom line items” in WhereFour (not inventory SKUs)
    • Discounts appear as negative pricing line items in orders
    • Need to surface discount as visual chip/indicator in Ordermatic UI (so humans don’t feel need to override)
    • Example: Order at $20, WhereFour price is $21.50 → show visual “discount applied” indicator
  4. Multiple Address Types

    • Shipping address (where products ship)
    • Billing address (different for some customers)
    • Location/warehouse (customer’s DC, separate from shipping)
    • Need new flag: location field to be extracted + validated in WhereFour
  5. Email Thread Management

    • Important decision: Start without AI reading every email thread
    • Pick up initial PO only, ignore reply threads for now
    • Ben + Sam will make manual changes to orders in Ordermatic as needed
    • Reason: They change orders hourly, so thread-based AI would create chaos
    • Future enhancement: Thread skill for specific scenarios (e.g., “if discount is wrong, generate new quote”)
  6. Auto-Submission to WhereFour

    • Vision: If order has zero validation issues, auto-submit to WhereFour (no human required)
    • Philippines team only does QA review (5-30 sec “is this correct?” check)
    • See integration log in WhereFour to spot errors
    • Helps establish eval set for Phase 2 automation
  1. WhereFour API Documentation

    • REST endpoints available?
    • Authentication method?
    • Rate limits?
    • Webhook support for order status updates?
    • Status: Dan said he’ll be responsive; David to prepare specific API questions for them
  2. Master Item List

    • Export from WhereFour: all SKUs with UPC variations, descriptions, pricing
    • Include allowance SKUs (discount line items)
    • Expected: Will be part of WhereFour sandbox access
  3. Customer Cross-Reference Table

    • Existing mapping: customer UPC/description → Cleveland Kitchen SKU
    • Format: CSV or Excel export
    • Expected: Will provide along with 4-month historical data
  4. Training/Historical Data

    • Screen recordings of manual order entry process (Cisco order example showed complex boilerplate)
    • 4 months of historical email orders for ROI analysis (to show time savings vs. cost)
    • Status: Dan agreed to send 4-month history (Jan-Feb selected to avoid October/November demand skew)
  5. Order History API

    • For “same as last time” orders, can we query WhereFour order history via API?
    • Or does CSR manually look up in WhereFour UI?
    • Status: Deferred to Phase 2 (Phase 1 focuses on extraction only)

ItemCostNotes
WhereFour Integration$15,000 → $0Waived as “design partner” (first WhereFour customer)
Monthly Platform Fee$500/moOrganization-level (not per-seat)
Per-Line-Item Fee$0.40/lineMinimum $2.50 per order
  • Volume: 50-100 orders/month
  • Avg SKUs per order: 4-8 SKUs (+ allowances can double to 8-16 lines)
  • Conservative estimate: 75 orders/month × 6 lines/order = 450 lines/month
  • Line item cost: 450 × $0.40 = $180/month
  • Platform fee: $500/month
  • Total: ~$680/month or $8,160/year
  • Current state: Philippines team (fixed rate per head) handling ~10-15 min/order
  • Estimated time savings: If 50-80% of orders auto-validated → 5-10 hours/month saved
  • Error reduction: Fewer SKU/UPC mapping errors, pricing mismatches
  • Scalability: Volume can fluctuate without hiring/training overhead
  • Phase 1 (Extraction PoC): Ordermatic does R&D at no cost
  • Cleveland Kitchen provides: NDA, sample orders, master item list, screen recordings
  • Decision point: After Phase 1, Cleveland Kitchen decides:
    • If YES → Pay normal $15K integration fee + ongoing usage fees
    • If NO → No cost, part ways as friends (Ordermatic keeps WhereFour integration for future customers)
  • Incentive if YES: 3 months free service (waives $5K implementation fee)

Phase 0: Discovery & Data Collection (Week 1)

Section titled “Phase 0: Discovery & Data Collection (Week 1)”
  • ✅ NDA signed
  • ✅ Cleveland Kitchen sends 10-15 sample orders (clean + messy)
  • ✅ Master item list export from WhereFour
  • ✅ Customer cross-reference table
  • ✅ Screen recordings of manual order entry process
  • ✅ WhereFour API documentation (if available)
  • ✅ Set up Cleveland Kitchen PoC org in Ordermatic
  • ✅ Configure email forwarding (customer service inbox → Ordermatic)
  • ✅ Build extraction logic for Cleveland Kitchen-specific formats
    • ✅ Excel extraction (both .xlsx Giant Eagle + .xls Heinen’s legacy format)
    • Extract boilerplate filtering (Cisco orders show heavy contract language)
    • Email threading: Pick initial PO only, ignore reply threads
    • Discount/allowance detection with visual chip indicator
    • NEW: Extract all address types (shipping, billing, location)
  • ✅ Train AI on UPC/SKU mapping variations
  • ✅ Test extraction accuracy on sample orders (target: >90% accuracy)
  • NEW: Create video demo with Giant Eagle + Heinen’s real extractions
  • Deliverable: Extraction demo + video walkthrough for Ben + Philippines team

Phase 2: WhereFour Integration (Weeks 5-10) (Conditional on Phase 1 success)

Section titled “Phase 2: WhereFour Integration (Weeks 5-10) (Conditional on Phase 1 success)”
  • Build Mockoon WhereFour mock for dev/testing
  • Implement WhereFour API endpoints (product, customer, order, pricing tiers)
  • Add business rule validations (pricing, allowances, new customer/SKU flagging, address validation)
  • CRITICAL: Disable inventory blocking (per Cleveland Kitchen requirement)
  • NEW: Auto-submission workflow
    • If order has zero validation issues → auto-submit to WhereFour (no human required)
    • Philippines team reviews only problematic orders (5-30 sec QA check)
    • Log all submissions in WhereFour integration log (for error diagnosis)
    • Helps establish eval set for Phase 3+ automation
  • Error handling & reporting (surface errors to CSR team in Ordermatic)
  • UAT with Ben + Philippines team

Phase 3: Production Deployment (Weeks 11-12)

Section titled “Phase 3: Production Deployment (Weeks 11-12)”
  • Deploy to production
  • Monitor extraction accuracy
  • Philippines team validates orders in Ordermatic → submits to WhereFour
  • Feedback loop: Capture missed mappings, build cross-reference table over time
  • Iterate on AI extraction based on real-world edge cases
  • Build “same as last time” order reference lookup
  • Enhance allowance detection
  • Automate pricing tier validation
  • Reduce human-in-loop validation to <20% of orders
  • Email Thread Skill (future enhancement, not Phase 1)
    • When reply email arrives: AI listens for specific order modifications (e.g., “change DC”, “discount is wrong”)
    • Option 1: Generate new quote with proposed changes, send to inbox
    • Option 2: Auto-update order in Ordermatic for CSR approval
    • Status: Not in Phase 1 (too risky given hourly changes); evaluate in Phase 4 after understanding CK’s email patterns

Long-term Migration Path (CK’s Strategic Decision)

Section titled “Long-term Migration Path (CK’s Strategic Decision)”
  • Cleveland Kitchen is evaluating Prisma - a custom ERP for food manufacturers (early-stage)
  • Implication for Ordermatic: WhereFour integration may have short shelf life
  • Opportunity: David should connect with Prisma founder (contact: Dan will intro)
    • Prisma needs order entry automation too
    • Ordermatic could become consultant/integration partner for new ERP
    • Longer-term: Migrate CK from WhereFour → Prisma, keep Ordermatic extraction + validation layer
  • API Documentation: David to build custom WhereFour API docs (better than official) → will transfer to Prisma integration later

  • ✅ 90%+ extraction accuracy on sample orders
  • ✅ Correct UPC normalization (12-digit ↔ 14-digit)
  • ✅ Customer/product matching functional
  • ✅ Allowances detected as separate line items
  • ✅ Ben + Sam approve quality of extracted data
  • ✅ Orders successfully created in WhereFour
  • ✅ Pricing validation working (flags new customer/SKU combos)
  • ✅ Inventory blocking disabled (orders enter regardless of stock)
  • ✅ Error rate <2% (measured against manual entry baseline)
  • ✅ Philippines team reports time savings
  • ✅ 60-80% of orders require minimal human editing
  • ✅ CSR team trusts system enough to reduce validation time
  • ✅ Cross-reference table growing automatically (AI learns customer terminology)
  • ✅ Positive feedback from Ben + Philippines team
  • ✅ Cleveland Kitchen decides to move forward with paid agreement

  • Impact: HIGH - Core challenge for Cleveland Kitchen
  • Mitigation:
    • Build robust UPC normalization logic (12 ↔ 14 digit)
    • Maintain per-customer cross-reference table
    • Human-in-loop for first occurrence of new customer/SKU combo
    • AI learns mappings over time
  • Impact: MEDIUM - Unknown until API documentation reviewed
  • Mitigation:
    • Early API exploration before Phase 2 commitment
    • Fallback: If API insufficient, evaluate alternative integration methods (ODBC, CSV export/import)
  • Impact: MEDIUM - Require order history lookup
  • Mitigation:
    • Phase 1: Flag for human review
    • Phase 4: Build automated lookup if WhereFour API supports order history queries
  • Impact: MEDIUM - Doubles line count, affects pricing
  • Mitigation:
    • Train AI on allowance keywords (“discount”, “rebate”, “allowance”, “promo”)
    • Validate against known allowance SKUs in WhereFour
    • Human review for first occurrence per customer
  • Impact: LOW-MEDIUM - Team needs to trust system
  • Mitigation:
    • Involve Ben (Customer Service Manager) early and often
    • Provide training on Ordermatic UI
    • Emphasize: Not job replacement, task simplification
    • Show time savings on repetitive orders

  • EDI (SPS platform): Handles 90% of volume (large customers)
    • Setup cost: Unknown (already implemented)
    • Per-transaction fee: Unknown
    • Limitation: Requires customer EDI capability (smaller customers can’t do this)
  • Philippines outsourcing: Fixed rate per head
    • Limitation: Manual entry errors (UPC mapping), time-consuming, not scalable
  • EDI requires customer buy-in; Ordermatic works with any email format
  • More flexible than outsourcing (no offshore lag, instant validation)
  • Scales with business growth (seasonal fluctuations)
  • Reduces SKU mapping errors (AI learns customer-specific terminology)
  • Strategic value: Opens up WhereFour integration for future food/beverage customers

  1. NDA - Sam to send NDA to Ordermatic
  2. Sample Orders - Ben to send 10-15 email orders (variety of formats)
    • ✅ Clean PDFs (Four Seasons, Misfits Market, Rainforest, SirNA Sons, Sysco)
    • ✅ Excel files (Giant Eagle @ 15 lines/order, Heinen’s legacy .xls format)
    • ✅ Email body text orders
    • ✅ Cisco order (with heavy contract boilerplate - good test case)
    • Include at least one “same as last time” reference order
  3. Master Item List - Export from WhereFour (all SKUs, UPCs, descriptions, pricing)
  4. Cross-Reference Table - Existing customer UPC/description mappings (if available)
  5. Training Materials - Screen recordings of manual order entry process
  6. NEW: 4-Month Historical Data - Dan will send Jan-Feb email order records (for ROI analysis)
    • Exclude Oct-Nov (anomalous demand, would skew weighted average)
    • Used to calculate: time savings vs. cost if using Ordermatic
  7. NEW: WhereFour Sandbox Access - Dan to provide sandbox account (currently $150-250/mo for one user)
    • David will explore API, prepare list of unanswerable questions for WhereFour support
  8. NEW: Email Configuration - They use Outlook with Gmail forwarding (some team members)
    • Standard Gmail servers route mail through, so affordable integration works fine
    • Alternative: OAuth app for Outlook (gives more control, but not needed for Phase 1)
  1. ⚙️ Ordermatic builds extraction logic for Cleveland Kitchen formats
  2. ⚙️ Test extraction on sample orders, measure accuracy
  3. ⚙️ Schedule follow-up demo to show extraction results
  4. ⚙️ Cleveland Kitchen decides: Proceed to Phase 2 or not?

Week 5-10: WhereFour Integration (if Phase 1 approved)

Section titled “Week 5-10: WhereFour Integration (if Phase 1 approved)”
  1. ⚙️ Obtain WhereFour API documentation
  2. ⚙️ Build Mockoon WhereFour mock
  3. ⚙️ Implement order creation, pricing validation
  4. ⚙️ UAT with Ben + Philippines team
  5. ⚙️ Deploy to production
  1. 🔄 Monitor extraction accuracy, iterate on AI training
  2. 🔄 Build cross-reference table over time
  3. 🔄 Expand to additional Cleveland Kitchen customers (if successful)

Cleveland Kitchen is a strong fit for Ordermatic’s first WhereFour integration:

  • Clear pain point: Manual email order entry (50-100/month)
  • Messy SKU/UPC mapping = high-value AI learning opportunity
  • Culturally ready: Already outsourcing, open to automation
  • Strategic value: WhereFour integration opens food/beverage distribution market
  • Local collaboration: Cleveland-based, easy to visit and support
  • Flexible partnership: Willing to be “design partner” for R&D phase

Recommendation: Proceed with Phase 1 Extraction PoC (R&D at no cost). If successful, negotiate Phase 2 WhereFour integration with Cleveland Kitchen as design partner (waive $15K fee, offer 3 months free service).

Strategic Priority: WhereFour integration = unlock future customers in food/beverage vertical (high-value market opportunity).


March 5, 2026 Onsite Meeting - Summary & Outcomes

Section titled “March 5, 2026 Onsite Meeting - Summary & Outcomes”
  • ❌ Excel extraction failed during demo (Giant Eagle .xlsx file didn’t process)
  • Root cause: Legacy xlrd dependency removed in pandas 2.0+ (openpyxl used for .xlsx only)
  • Fixed same day: Added xlrd fallback for binary .xls files, tested both formats
  • ✅ All other extractions worked (PDFs, email text, Cisco order)
  • ✅ Demo showed pricing validation, address lookup, allowance detection
  1. Excel Files Are Critical

    • Giant Eagle orders: .xlsx format, ~15 lines/order, consistent format
    • Heinen’s orders: .xls legacy binary format (requires xlrd)
    • Both are highest-priority suppliers (frequent manual orders)
  2. Discount/Allowance Handling

    • Custom line items in WhereFour (not inventory SKUs)
    • Appear as negative pricing in orders
    • UX requirement: Visual chip indicator (yellow badge) to show “discount applied”
    • Reason: Reviewers shouldn’t feel need to override if ERP already has correct price
  3. Email Threading

    • Unanimous decision: Don’t AI-process reply threads in Phase 1
    • Pick initial PO only → manual order adjustments for hourly changes
    • Reason: Production scheduling changes constantly; thread-based AI would create chaos
    • Future: Email thread skill (Phase 4) for specific scenarios
  4. Address Types

    • Three distinct fields: Shipping, Billing, Location/Warehouse
    • Pricing may vary by location (e.g., different DC = different pricing tier)
    • Implementation: Extract all three + validate shipping/location in WhereFour
  5. Auto-Submission Vision

    • If order has zero validation issues → auto-submit to WhereFour
    • Philippines team: QA only (5-30 sec “is this correct?” check)
    • Builds eval set for Phase 3+ automation
    • Integration log in WhereFour for error diagnosis
  6. Long-term ERP Migration (Strategic Opportunity)

    • Cleveland Kitchen evaluating “Prisma” (custom ERP for food manufacturers)
    • WhereFour integration may have limited shelf life (1-2 years)
    • Opportunity: Ordermatic could integrate Prisma later; David should connect with founder
  • ✅ 4-month historical email order data (Jan-Feb selected for ROI analysis)
  • ⏳ WhereFour sandbox access (for API exploration)
  • ⏳ Master item list + customer cross-reference table
  • ⏳ Training materials (screen recordings of manual entry)
  • David to produce video demo with Giant Eagle + Heinen’s real extractions (by end of week)
  • Video showcases both Excel formats working smoothly
  • Present to Ben + Philippines team for feedback before Phase 2 commitment