Lessons Learned from the J&J Snack Foods ERP Failure

Key Takeaways:

• J&J Snack Foods’ ERP failure highlights how system rollouts can trigger widespread supply chain disruption when business complexity is underestimated.

• Food and beverage ERP implementations face unique risks, like batch variability, traceability, and decentralized operations, that must be addressed from day one.

• Multi-site ERP rollout risks escalate when local processes, data standards, and readiness levels are not aligned with enterprise-wide system design.

• Independent ERP consultants help mitigate failure risk by pressure-testing assumptions, validating fit, and ensuring post-go-live resilience.

ERP failures in the food and beverage sector often expose deeper misalignments between business strategy and system design.

That’s exactly what the J&J Snack Foods case reveals.

In early 2023, J&J Snack Foods rolled out a new ERP system as part of a company-wide digital transformation. What followed were weeks of order delays, fulfillment issues, and mounting supply chain disruption.

The company cited “implementation challenges” on earnings calls and confirmed that the system had negatively impacted operations, particularly in frozen goods distribution.

While many of the technical issues were eventually addressed, the rollout created enough turbulence to affect both customer satisfaction and financial performance.

From the outside, this looked like a standard modernization effort: a publicly traded manufacturer investing in ERP to improve visibility and scale. But like many ERP initiatives in the food industry, the result was supply chain disruption, earnings pressure, and a public reset of expectations.

Today, we’re exploring this cautionary tale and examining how ERP food industry challenges can trigger enterprise-wide risk.

Why ERP Continues to Fail in the Food & Beverage Industry

The industry isn’t new to food and beverage ERP software, but the risks remain.

Core system design often overlooks the operational details that define this industry: lot tracking, batch variability, expiry-sensitive fulfillment, and constantly shifting demand signals.

Furthermore, success in one facility doesn’t guarantee success across the organization. That’s one of the defining lessons from J&J’s experience. Like many in ERP failures, the company faced supply chain disruption, manifesting in delayed orders, inventory misalignment, and workflow breakdowns across sites.

Supply Chain Disruption from ERP Failure

When ERP fails in a high-throughput, time-sensitive environment, the damage compounds. 

In the case of J&J Snack Foods, ERP rollout issues contributed directly to operational and supply chain turbulence. We’ve seen similar patterns across other manufacturers, especially when ERP rollout decisions are made with incomplete operational input or without fully funding post-go-live support.

Multi-Site ERP Rollout Risks Are Often Underestimated

Multi-site ERP rollout risks are numerous—even with a phased rollout. While this approach provides flexibility, it often reveals:

• Unstandardized processes masquerading as enterprise templates
• Data inconsistencies that undermine system logic
• Resource imbalances between the pilot site and later waves

J&J’s experience reflects this challenge. Many food manufacturers operate with decentralized decision-making, site-specific workflows, and uneven system literacy. When these realities go unaddressed, the ERP design breaks down in later phases.

This is where independent ERP consultants can offer the most value. The best ERP consultants know how to assess readiness across all sites and adjust rollout strategies accordingly.

What J&J’s Experience Can Teach Other Executives

Whether you’re in food manufacturing, beverage distribution, or co-manufacturing, the takeaways here are widely applicable:

1. Test for the Worst

Before you finalize your ERP selection, simulate the messy stuff: batch recalls, allergen cross-contamination, mid-shift line changes. If the system can’t handle real food production variance, you want to know sooner rather than later.

2. Treat Implementation as an Operational Transformation

An ERP system forces process change, often faster than people or infrastructure can keep up. That’s especially true in multi-site rollouts, where each facility has unique maturity levels and constraints.

Look for ERP implementation services that sequence go-lives based on readiness.

3. Focus Metrics on Business Stability

It’s easy to track go-live milestones and ticket resolution times. It’s harder to track fulfillment accuracy, inventory turns, and the frequency of post-go-live workarounds. These are the metrics that actually reflect supply chain resilience and ERP value.

4. Use an Unbiased ERP Software List

Many food and beverage companies rely on third-party recommendations that aren’t fully independent. If your ERP shortlist was shaped by referral fees or vendor influence, you may be starting from a distorted baseline. True independence means using a vendor-neutral ERP software list and selecting based on fit, not incentives.

Expert Insight
Increasingly, food and beverage companies are looking at AI-powered tools to complement ERP, which makes unbiased selection even more important. These capabilities are powerful, but only if the ERP foundation is stable. AI cannot correct for a misaligned ERP system.

Learn More About ERP Failure

ERP projects are infrastructure investments. They determine how well your company can scale, respond to volatility, and protect customer trust.

When ERP fails, as it did for J&J Snack Foods, it slows everything from procurement to production to fulfillment. But failure doesn’t have to mean collapse. It can mean realignment and a chance to rethink how ERP is governed, supported, and measured across the enterprise.

If your organization is navigating ERP challenges,consider working with a firm that brings vendor independence, deep operational insight, and accountability from day one.
That’s where the best ERP consultants make a difference. Contact us today to learn more.