Location/Region: Quebec, CAN
Industry: Manufacturing of wine cellars
Apps implemented: Sales, CRM, Inventory, Manufacturing, Purchase, Accounting, Project, Documents, Studio, Field Service
Number of users: 20
Software replaced: Google Sheets, Excel, QuickBooks
Hosting type: Odoo Online
Quebec-based The Wine Square, a wine cellar manufacturer, has transformed its operations and accelerated growth thanks to Odoo. By consolidating fragmented tools and automating processes across sales, manufacturing, and accounting, the company has taken full control of its production and experienced remarkable efficiency gains.
The Wine Square started as a division within the Corflex, focusing on designing and manufacturing premium wine cellars. With a small but dedicated team of approximately 17 employees, the company has always prioritized craftsmanship, quality materials, and innovative storage solutions.
As The Wine Square gradually moved toward full operational and financial independence from its parent group, the focus has been on creating a lean, agile organization capable of scaling production while maintaining high standards. Payroll remains with Corflex, but the company’s ambition is full autonomy.
The Hurdles The Wine Square Faced
Before Odoo, The Wine Square relied on a mix of tools and legacy systems that weren’t designed for its specialized business. While Corflex used an ERP for movable partitions, it was too rigid and costly to adapt for wine cellar production. The recentralization of production in-house, including acquiring subcontractors, added complexity that the existing systems could not handle.
Tools included Google Sheets, Excel, and QuickBooks, alongside numerous manual processes. Managing 80 simultaneous projects across five production units, countless SKUs, and multiple subassemblies was nearly impossible. Inventory management was fragmented, purchase orders weren’t linked to manufacturing, and errors were frequent.
"With the old software, every little change had to be programmed by the vendor, which resulted in a lot of rigidity, slowdowns, on top of constant extra spending. Also, it was almost impossible to precisely measure our production costs. We were flying blind and blocked in our growth.”
Breaking Free from Outdated Tools
Initially hesitant to replace QuickBooks for accounting, The Wine Square sought a modern, cloud-based solution that could centralize operations, remain flexible, and reduce dependency on external vendors. The criteria included an intuitive interface, open-source logic, and the ability to configure the system internally.
"I immediately liked Odoo’s logic: apps like on a phone. It’s easy to understand and to explain to the team. I wanted a cloud solution, flexible, and especially one where we don’t depend on a vendor for every change. Odoo ticked all those boxes.”
After an initial software demo by Floruen Tu, account executive at Odoo, Jean-François leveraged the holiday season to personally test Odoo before deciding to migrate. Competing solutions evaluated included SAP, Katana, MRP Easily, and Acumatica, with other cloud solutions judged not very user-friendly and less affordable.
"After signing up for the free trial and testing Odoo, I said to myself: OK, now we’ve got something. And I also used ChatGPT as a copilot for Odoo. I could ask it for reports, configuration ideas… It allowed me to go much further, much faster," Jean-François Girard said.
Transforming Operations with Odoo
Jean-François largely tested and configured Odoo himself. The deployment milestones were: analysis and demo in November 2024, transfer of orders and production in February, and full management of orders and payments by April.
Despite some initial learning curves and a misconfiguration in production flow, the implementation quickly stabilized. "We made a big configuration mistake at the beginning, in production. It was a silly error, but it cost us time. The advantage is that it’s easy to fix in Odoo once you understand it."
Odoo’s impact has been substantial. Revenue grew 300%, with the software cited as a key enabler.
"Odoo clearly played a major role in this growth. Honestly, without a solid software like Odoo, it never would have been possible."
Operational efficiency improved across deliveries, procurement, manufacturing, sales, and internal communication. Inventory is structured, missing parts at shipping have nearly vanished, and sales, manufacturing, and delivery are seamlessly linked.
"Before, we had missing parts at shipping, a lot of rework. Now everything is linked: sales, manufacturing, and delivery. It changes everything."
Visibility and cost analysis have improved significantly. Raw materials can be calculated accurately in the final production cost, which wasn't the case before. Employee time tracking is still being implemented at the moment for more accurate cost tracking.
"Today we really know what our projects cost us. And the more we push Odoo, the more we refine that level of detail."
Project ensures smooth batch shipments. A single sales order automatically creates a task used for shipping, linked to multiple delivery orders, maintaining clarity even with multiple shipments per project.
"We went from almost nothing to what I consider one of the best management software on the market. It improved the company on every level. I’m extremely satisfied that I often say I wear the Odoo jersey to the office every day. Odoo capabilities surprise me daily!"
Features like the chatter have also been crucial. "The chatter box is epic. It completely changes everything. When someone makes a careless mistake, we see right away what happened, and we fix it. The traceability is crystal clear.”
"In addition, Studio is fantastic, as well. Each user can raise their needs, and I am able to adapt the interface to simplify their daily work. We simply didn’t have this level of flexibility before."
Scaling New Heights
with Odoo
For 2026, The Wine Square plans to complete the accounting migration into Odoo and launch email marketing automation, further centralizing operations and strengthening customer relationship management. The upcoming migration to Odoo 19 will leverage built-in AI features to enhance processes even further.
"I can’t wait to move to version 19 to take advantage of the built-in AI features. For us, Odoo and AI are a winning combination," says Jean-François Girard.
The company remains committed to refining operations, optimizing workflows, and exploring new efficiencies that will sustain growth while maintaining the quality that defines its brand.
"If I can give advice, I'd recommend taking the time to understand Odoo’s logic. In my experience, configuring it ourselves changed everything. I understood the connections between apps better, and it allows us to rethink the way we operate and align it with the platform."
The Wine Square’s experience shows that small, specialized manufacturers can achieve remarkable growth with the right tools. If your business is looking to streamline operations, improve collaboration, and gain real-time insights, explore Odoo today and see how it can transform the way you work and skyrocket your revenues like The Wine Square.
