Sales and field reps
Price lists, product sheets, customer history and visit notes, on WhatsApp between one appointment and the next. An order dictated in the car becomes an email ready for the sales office and an activity in the CRM.
How can I use WhatsApp for my work in the food industry?
In the food industry everyone already uses WhatsApp: customers, reps, suppliers and shift leaders. Ugo turns it into a work tool: you type or send a voice note, and it finds spec sheets and certificates, drafts emails to customers, updates the CRM, keeps the diary of audits and deliveries and replies to customers from the company number. It asks you to confirm before every action.
At a food manufacturer questions come from every direction, and almost always on WhatsApp. The retail buyer wants the latest spec sheet, the restaurant owner wants to know whether the product contains nuts, the rep sends an order from the car park, the haulier says they’re running late, the shift leader sends a photo of the stopped conveyor. The answers, though, are somewhere else: in the quality folders, in the ERP, in someone’s inbox, in the head of whoever is on holiday.
Ugo is a contact on WhatsApp connected to the tools the company already uses: Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, email, contacts, folders on Drive or OneDrive, a CRM such as Odoo or HubSpot, monday.com for projects. Everyone in the company uses it from their own phone, with their own accounts: sales for customers, quality for documents, maintenance for jobs. With Automations on the company’s WhatsApp Business, Ugo also replies to customers, asks for whatever is missing and alerts the right person.
Ugo doesn’t replace your HACCP plan, your production system or your traceability software, and it doesn’t sign anything on behalf of the technical manager. It finds, summarises, prepares and reminds. Every email, message or document goes out only after your “Confirm”.
Who uses it in the company
Who uses WhatsApp with Ugo at a food manufacturer
Every department has its own questions. Ugo answers each one with their own tools.
Technical and food safety
Spec sheets, allergen declarations, BRCGS or IFS certificates, lab results: found in a minute and sent to the customer once you give the OK. Certification expiry dates reach you in the chat before it’s too late.
Purchasing and raw materials
Supplier offers summarised, delivery emails found, raw material certificates searched for in the right folders. So you know straight away what the flour mill or the dairy has said.
Production and maintenance
The shift leader sends a voice note about the line stoppage and Ugo opens the item on the maintenance board. The engineer finds the packing machine manual on their phone, standing in front of the machine.
Logistics and dispatch
Haulier and customer questions about deliveries, routes to stores with live traffic, delivery booking slots in the diary.
Owner and management
Every morning, at the time you choose, a summary of appointments, important emails and open deals. Quick questions about the figures in shared spreadsheets, without opening the laptop.
Examples of using WhatsApp in the food industry
Real conversations, typed in a hurry the way people type on WhatsApp.
The spec sheet with allergens, sent to the customer
The buyer asks for the latest sheet for a product. Ugo finds it in the quality folder, tells you the version and date, and emails it to the customer once you confirm.
Skills used
Send me the spec sheet for the rosemary breadsticks, latest version
In the folder “Quality/Spec sheets” there’s “ST-112 Rosemary breadsticks rev05.pdf”, updated on 2 September. Allergens: wheat (gluten); may contain sesame and soya. Shall I send it to Emma Clarke (Harlow Foods), who asked for it this morning?
The rep’s order, dictated in the car
Leaving the customer, the rep sends a voice note with the order. Ugo drafts the email for the sales office with items and quantities, adds the note in the CRM and sets a reminder to call back about restocking.
Skills used
🎤 Voice message (0:36)
Here’s what I’ll do: • Email to orders@bramleypasta.co.uk: “Order from The Corner Café, Harrogate: 20 cases tagliatelle 250 g, 15 cases spinach ravioli, delivery Tuesday” • Note on The Corner Café in Odoo • Activity “Call back about restocking” in two weeks Shall I go ahead?
The upcoming audit, with documents ready
Ugo reminds you about the certification body’s visit, checks the expiry dates in the certifications spreadsheet and tells you what’s missing, so you can get everything ready in time.
Skills used
When’s the BRCGS audit and what expires first?
The BRCGS Food Safety audit is on Tuesday 18 November, from 9:00, in the diary. In the file “Certification schedule.xlsx”: • Process water analysis: expired on 30 September • Metal detector calibration, line 2: due on 10 November • HACCP training, night shift: 3 people to refresh Shall I set a reminder for Monday morning?
The line stoppage, reported with a voice note
The shift leader describes the fault out loud. Ugo creates the item on the monday.com maintenance board with line, machine and priority, and assigns it to the engineer on shift.
Skills used
🎤 Voice message (0:22)
I’ll create on monday.com, board “Site maintenance”: • Item: “Line 3 – tray sealer, uneven seal” • Priority: high, status “To do” • Assigned to Dave Robinson Shall I go ahead?
Automations on your number
Customers message the company number, Ugo sorts the requests
Cafés, restaurants and shops message the company’s WhatsApp Business. An automation replies with three buttons: Order, Spec sheet and allergens, Other. For a spec sheet Ugo finds it in the quality folder and sends it once you give the OK; for an order it collects the details and alerts the sales office.
The blue bubbles are the customer, the white ones are the replies sent from the company’s WhatsApp Business number.
Discover WhatsApp automationsHello, I need some information about your breadsticks
Hello! I’m the assistant for Valley Bakery. What can we help with?
Spec sheet
Of course, which product? If you tell me the pack size too, I’ll send you the right sheet.
Rosemary breadsticks, the 250 g pack
📎 ST-112 Rosemary breadsticks rev05.pdf Here’s the latest sheet, with allergens and nutrition information. Any questions, I’m here.
Ideas for using Ugo’s skills at a food manufacturer
Each skill is a connected tool. Here’s how to get the most out of it in this sector.
Your WhatsApp BusinessReplies to customers from the company number
Delivery times, orders, spec sheet requests: Automations reply from the WhatsApp Business number your customers already know and only alert you when it’s needed.
Discover Your WhatsApp Business
Google DriveThe quality folder, always in your pocket
Spec sheets, allergen declarations, certificates and procedures: Ugo searches by name or content, reads PDFs and fills in your templates, such as the non-conformance letter to a supplier.
Discover Google Drive
OneDrive, Word and ExcelSchedules and logs in Excel
Ugo reads the certification schedule or the complaints log and adds rows once you confirm, for example a complaint dictated by voice with batch and customer.
Discover OneDrive, Word and Excel
OdooCustomers and opportunities in the CRM
Before a visit the rep asks Ugo for the customer’s history; it reads quotations and sales orders and leaves notes and activities in Odoo after the meeting.
Discover OdooCompany websites (knowledge)
The catalogue on the company website
Add the website with your catalogue: Ugo searches it for pack sizes, ingredients and product ranges and answers reps and automations with the published information.
Discover Company websites (knowledge)
MapsThe round of customers and deliveries
The quickest order to visit stores or reach the retailer’s distribution centre, with live traffic, and Street View of the goods-in entrance.
Discover MapsWhat Ugo does not do
Ugo organises messages, calendars, emails and documents. Everything else stays with your systems and your people.
- It doesn’t replace your HACCP plan, your food safety management system or your batch traceability software.
- It doesn’t approve, sign or change spec sheets and labels: it finds them and sends them, in the version chosen by quality.
- It doesn’t enter orders in your production system or ERP: it drafts the email or note for whoever enters them, and in Odoo it creates opportunities, notes and activities.
- It doesn’t send mass campaigns on WhatsApp: automations reply to people who message you, within WhatsApp’s 24-hour window.
The skills to switch on
The most useful Ugo features in this sector, starting with the first one to turn on. Each person switches them on from the portal in a few minutes.
Ugo for people working in the sector
The pages for the jobs in this sector, with more specific examples.
Food sales agents
For reps selling food to foodservice, supermarkets, independent shops and wholesalers: principals’ price lists, call cycles, orders and CRM handled from WhatsApp, even by voice.
Discover Ugo for food sales agentsBread, pizza and bakery agents
For reps selling flour, yeast, bakery mixes and frozen bakery to bakers, pizzerias, patisseries and cafés: spec sheets, bakery trials and Christmas and Easter bookings.
Discover Ugo for bread, pizza and bakery agentsMilk and dairy agents
For reps representing creameries and cheesemakers to cheese counters, pizzerias, cafés and restaurants: PDO cheeses, maturities, pizza mozzarella, dates and returns handled from WhatsApp.
Discover Ugo for milk and dairy agentsFresh food agents
For reps selling cooked meats, meat, fresh produce and deli lines to butchers, delis, restaurants and supermarket counters: order cut-offs, short shelf lives, cold chain and complaints handled fast.
Discover Ugo for fresh food agents
Questions about WhatsApp and Ugo in the food industry
How do you use WhatsApp for work at a food manufacturer?
To reply to customers, take orders from reps, coordinate deliveries and suppliers and report problems in production. With Ugo everyone can also ask for documents, appointments and customer details in the chat, and the company’s WhatsApp Business number answers the most common requests by itself, such as spec sheets.
Can Ugo send spec sheets and allergen declarations to customers?
Yes. It finds them in the folder you choose on Google Drive or OneDrive and sends them by email or from the company’s WhatsApp Business. If you turn on “Ask me to confirm first” in the automation, no document goes out without your OK. Ugo always sends the file it finds: keeping versions up to date is still the job of quality.
Does Ugo connect to our production system or ERP?
It connects to Odoo (versions 14 to 19) as a CRM, to HubSpot, Zoho CRM and Agile CRM, to monday.com and Zendesk, and to any app with an MCP server. With other systems it works through emails and documents: for example, it drafts the order email for whoever enters it in the system.
Can I use Ugo on the production floor, where nobody types on their phone?
Yes, with voice notes of up to 90 seconds: Ugo transcribes them on its servers in Europe, keeps only the text and handles them like written messages. The shift leader describes the fault out loud and Ugo prepares the report.
How much does it cost to use Ugo across the company?
Ugo costs €50 a month or €550 a year per person, excluding VAT, with every skill included. You only switch it on for the people who use it: for example sales and quality, not necessarily the whole site.
Useful references
Associations, bodies and official sources for the sector: external websites, independent of Ugo.
- Food and Drink FederationThe voice of the UK food and drink manufacturing industry, with sector data, guidance and policy updates.fdf.org.uk
- Food Standards AgencyThe UK regulator for food safety and hygiene, with guidance on allergens, HACCP, labelling and food alerts.food.gov.uk
- EFSA – European Food Safety AuthorityEuropean scientific opinions on ingredients, additives, allergens and contaminants.efsa.europa.eu
- BRCGSThe food safety certification standard required by most UK retailers and many buyers worldwide.brcgs.com
Quality on file, answers on WhatsApp
Connect your quality folders, email and the company’s WhatsApp Business in a few minutes. Customers, reps and departments find their answers in the chat.
