Drinkizz Customer Story

Industry: Beverage | Location: Vietnam & Singapore  | Use Case: Operations & Inventory Management

In 2019, Drinkizz launched an innovative health beverage designed to open a new market category they call O.N.E. or Organic Natural Energy.

The drink, made from ten functional ingredients including Vietnamese black tea, provides a sustainable boost without the crash associated with conventional sodas. It quickly gained popularity among athletes, students, seniors, and families seeking healthier alternatives.

But with growing demand came a critical question: how could a small startup manage complex production and inventory workflows  without any IT infrastructure?

“We had to be able to scale up our production, but we were stuck on the very first step because of the considerable amount of data we had to manage.”

— Pierre Bonnet, Co-founder, Drinkizz

Drinkizz’s operations became too complex for spreadsheets to handle

From sourcing ingredients and managing multi-stage production to tracking inventory across multiple sites, Drinkizz was juggling massive amounts of interconnected data. Initially managed through Excel and Google Drive, the system worked  but only up to a point. As production exceeded 10,000 cans per month, it became clear that spreadsheets couldn’t scale. Errors, delays, and risks to product quality began to surface.

Traditional enterprise software was too slow, rigid, or expensive

The team explored ERP systems, but found them too inflexible and time-consuming to implement for a fast-paced startup. Six months of configuration time and the risk of a failed deployment made ERP an unrealistic option. 

Enterprise-grade solutions like Master Data Management (MDM), Product Information Management (PIM), and Customer Data Integration ( CDI) were also considered, but they required significant IT infrastructure and upfront investment, a poor fit for a lean, growing company still running on spreadsheets.

Growth had to pause unless a better solution was found fast

With no scalable system in place, Drinkizz faced a tough choice: slow down production, delay growth, and raise millions to fund a traditional IT buildout  or find a smarter way to manage their data. Pausing growth for 12–18 months wasn’t an option. They needed a solution that could handle their complex data, grow with them, and be implemented immediately without breaking the bank.

A global crisis pushed Drinkizz to find the right digital partner

In early 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down borders and businesses, the Drinkizz team found themselves grounded and reflective. Like many others, they were suddenly relying on digital tools more than ever. It was a turning point: if the business was going to survive and grow, it had to go digital fast.

While exploring no-code platforms, Drinkizz quickly ruled out the usual suspects. Tools like Airtable and Bubble had slick interfaces, but fell short on relational data management.

“Attractive UI is great, but we needed substance. We needed structure — table relationships, integrity, traceability. That’s when we found Knack.”

What caught their attention wasn’t flashy design, it was Knack’s foundation. It let them model real relationships between tables, maintain data consistency, and scale flexibly as business needs evolved. As a beverage company with a chaotic, nonlinear workflow, that flexibility was everything.

Unlike traditional ERP or database tools, Knack didn’t require a team of engineers or months of setup. The Drinkizz team could build exactly what they needed, when they needed it all within a no-code framework that respected the logic of professional data architecture.

And the clincher? The support.

“We weren’t just using a tool. We had a partner. Every time we hit a wall, Knack’s team listened — and responded.”

That responsiveness, paired with a solid technical foundation, cemented the relationship. Knack didn’t just check the boxes. It helped Drinkizz leap over a wall they’d been staring at for months and into a new phase of growth.

Knack became the digital backbone for Drinkizz’s entire operation

With Knack selected, Drinkizz began translating their complex business into a structured, unified digital system. This wasn’t about “digitizing for the sake of digitizing.” It was about gaining control, reducing risk, and enabling scale without compromising the integrity of their product or operations.

“Within weeks of choosing Knack, we had our first live workflows in production. By the end of the quarter, our core processes from production to invoicing were fully digitized.”

Production workflows needed structure, traceability, and flexibility

Drinkizz’s production isn’t linear it’s multi-stage and deeply data-driven. Each beverage is the result of carefully measured steps: infusion, syrup mixing, semi-product formulation, and final canning. At every point, quality depends on precise conditions: ingredient batch identity, volume used, cooking time, temperature, equipment calibration, and even human oversight.

In spreadsheets, tracking these variables was error-prone and disconnected. But Knack allowed the team to model production data relationally connecting ingredients to batch IDs, linking production runs to specific machines and operators, and storing parameter values like pH or Brix that determine beverage quality.

The result: every can produced has a data lineage. If a quality issue arises, the team can trace it back to a specific ingredient batch, production date, and even operator or machine. This level of traceability simply wasn’t possible before.

Inventory became transparent and governed

Production wasn’t the only challenge. Drinkizz needed to track inventory across multiple locations from factories and partner storage facilities to end-point retailers like supermarkets and hotels.

Each location had different storage constraints, timelines, and quality requirements. With Knack, Drinkizz designed a system that managed these complexities in real time: factory stock levels, aging inventory alerts, storage capacity thresholds, and movement history across the supply chain.

The Knack platform didn’t just show them what they had, it told them where it was, how long it had been there, and whether it still met Drinkizz’s quality standards. It also enabled regular audits of logistics partners and external storage sites, with clear visibility into compliance.

Knack’s ability to link inventory to production batches also meant Drinkizz could always reconcile stock movement with actual production runs, which was something they couldn’t reliably do with Excel.

“In a complex world, we have learned that when data is well managed, every decision gains clarity and strength.” 

– Vinci Dzoulou, CDO Drinkizz & IT Consultant.

Sales and fulfillment gained consistency, speed, and accuracy

Before Knack, customer orders came in through a range of digital channels such as Zalo, email, Facebook, e-commerce platforms, or over the phone. Orders were often incomplete, manually recorded, or missing standardized details like pricing tiers or delivery windows. The risk of miscommunication or delay was constant.

Knack changed that. The sales team built a workflow where every order, no matter where it originated, was entered into a consistent format. Customer data, product SKUs, discount policies, and delivery logistics were all integrated into a single system.

As soon as an order was entered, Knack checked real-time inventory. If stock wasn’t available, the system triggered a request for production, updated the order’s fulfillment status, and coordinated with the warehouse team to schedule delivery. Invoices were generated and stored digitally, ensuring accounting always had what they needed with no duplicate data entry.

The real win was that all departments sales, production, logistics, finance were now working from the same platform. No more silos, no more inconsistent data, no more chasing down updates.

Knack didn’t just digitize Drinkizz’s workflows, it became the backbone of their business. A system built not for a department, but for the entire operation. And one flexible enough to grow alongside them.

Scaling up and Impact

Drinkizz didn’t just build a system for themselves, they used what they learned to support others. As their business matured, their Knack-based platform became the foundation for broader growth and impact:

• The system continues to evolve with the business. As Drinkizz scales, new data models and workflows are added seamlessly from expanded production lines to new warehouse locations and sales channels.
  
• The team has become self-sufficient in managing and extending the platform. Knack’s no-code environment empowers Drinkizz to make continuous improvements without relying on external developers or costly third-party tools.
  
• Their internal success sparked a new opportunity: helping others do the same. Recognizing how many startups face the same data challenges, Drinkizz began sharing their methodology, models, and experience.
  
• They now offer consulting to other startups and organizations. Drinkizz provides NoCode-AI services, helping businesses in Vietnam and beyond adopt Knack for operations, inventory, and workflow automation.
  
• Organizations like GC Food, AI Academy Vietnam, and Midomax have already benefited. Drinkizz has supported clients in sectors ranging from food production to education and healthcare, proving the flexibility of Knack’s architecture.
  
• They actively promote best practices in data governance and digital architecture. Using Knack alongside tools like event-driven integrations, they help clients build scalable, audit-ready systems that match enterprise-grade expectations.
  
• Knack has become both an operational core and a professional calling card. Drinkizz now demonstrates their digital maturity through the very tools they use — a living example of what’s possible with the right platform and method.
  

Results with Knack

• 3X increase in production volume without new headcount
  
• 100% digital traceability from ingredient to shelf
  
• 1 unified system replacing 5+ disconnected tools
  
• Real-time inventory visibility across all factory and retail sites
  
• Zero reliance on external IT resources for ongoing system updates

Drinkizz didn’t just survive a turning point they turned it into a platform for sustainable growth and shared innovation. And Knack remains at the center of that journey.

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