Hot on dispatch: how Condimaniac keeps fulfilment moving

Condimaniac makes small batch hot sauces and seasonings, the kind built around bold flavour rather than the supermarket shelf. The brand has grown a loyal following, and that following now extends well beyond one off orders. Customers can subscribe to specific products they don't want to run out of, and thousands more have joined Club Maniac, the brand's quarterly subscription box and Members Club, which now counts over 4,000 members.

That mix of one off orders, individual product subscriptions, and a quarterly box paid by thousands at once makes for a fulfilment operation with a lot of moving parts. We sat down with Imogen Bird, Operations Manager at Condimaniac, to hear how Zenstores helps the team keep on top of it.

Daily dispatch, done properly

Zenstores is built to sit at the centre of a multi-platform operation, connecting selling channels and carriers so the team has one place to manage everything. For Condimaniac, that means a daily rhythm that keeps orders moving without the team having to jump between systems.

Orders come in from Shopify, Amazon, and TikTok Shop. Zenstores connects directly to all of them, pulling every order into a single view regardless of where it originated. That means the warehouse team isn't logging into multiple dashboards or reconciling order lists from different sources. They see everything in one place, in the same format, ready to pick and pack.

"We have a daily dispatch on weekdays by our warehouse team, run by Summer, our Warehouse Manager. This team ensures orders are out the door as soon as possible and Zenstores is our main platform to facilitate this, as most of our selling platforms integrate with it easily.”

Having more than one carrier option matters when order types vary, whether that's by destination, by season, or by what's actually in the box. Condimaniac splits its shipping between two carriers and Zenstores lets the team manage multiple carriers from one place, so choosing the right service for each order doesn't mean switching systems.

“We use Royal Mail as our main dispatch partner, and DPD for our ROI orders and Advent Calendars on the run-up to Christmas."

Club Maniac: 4,000 members and counting

Subscription models introduce a layer of complexity that most fulfilment tools aren't built for. Four times a year, a wave of orders lands at once, and it needs to move through the system without disrupting everything else already in the queue.

"As Condimaniac scales, we have introduced new SKUs that have taken a bit of work to nail down the logistics on. Our biggest being Club Maniac, our quarterly subscription box and Members Club.

Since launching in February 2024 we have reached over 4,000 members, of which all subscription payments are taken on the 1st of the month in February, May, August and November. This surge in orders has previously been a challenge as we try to fish out non-subscription orders from our list.”

Zenstores Automations and Shipping Rules work together to take that manual sorting out of the equation.

With Automations, subscription orders can be tagged and separated as soon as they come in, advent calendars can be held back and only released on the correct posting date, and other order types can be routed exactly where they need to go.

Shipping Rules then apply the right carrier and service automatically, so a Republic of Ireland order goes out with DPD without anyone needing to select it manually.“Being able to use Zenstores Rules and Automations has been a gamechanger. By using new vs recurring subscription tags we have been able to separate the 4,000 subscription payments from our daily orders with ease, saving us a lot of time staring at a screen to make sure nobody's Good Bagel shaker has got lost in the madness."

"So far the answer has always been yes"

As new requirements come up for Condimaniac, the flexibility of Zenstores Automations means there's usually a route, even when it isn't obvious at first.

Automations can be built around order tags, product types, weight, destination, or a combination of all of them, which means they can be layered to handle situations that are specific to one brand rather than relying on generic settings that work for everyone.

Where most platforms would need a manual workaround, or simply can't accommodate an unusual request at all, Automations can often be configured to fit Condimaniac's needs.

"I have been impressed and surprised every time I've had a suggestion for a function we would like to implement and Harry has been able to find a route with automations to make our lives easier. I need to stop saying 'it's probably not possible, but could you...', because so far the answer has always been yes!"

Going global

As Condimaniac expands into international shipping, customs becomes part of the daily operation. Zenstores generates the required customs documentation as part of the shipping flow.

With Zenstores, customs data is applied at product level rather than order level, so the correct HS code and description are pulled through automatically for every item Condimaniac ships. There's no need to fill in customs forms manually for each international order, which means the team can take on new markets without the admin building up alongside the order volume.

"Having recently opened up shipping to various international locations, with more in the works, Zenstores has proved a user-friendly and intuitive platform to handle customs.

As we move forward and attempt to make our brand available to more of the world, simplifying this process will be our next frontier to tackle."

Thanks to Imogen Bird, Operations Manager at Condimaniac, for sharing how Zenstores supports their fulfilment operation.

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