Case Study: Streamlining Inventory & Operations for Sour Strips Through Expert Outsourced Management, Business Acquired by Hershey’s One Year After the Iconic Operations Manager Placement
Background
Sour Strips (SS) was already making waves in the specialty candy market when they partnered with Proximity. As a small-but-mighty team, SS had built an enthusiastic following by consistently delivering high-quality sour candy to retailers. Their culture was collaborative and fun—every member was passionate about the product and eager to grow. But rapid market expansion and fluctuating production schedules were beginning to strain their internal processes. SS needed a dedicated operations and inventory expert to help them manage surging demand, tighten order accuracy, and ensure production kept pace with growth.
Proximity was brought in to provide an experienced outsourced operations manager—someone who could hit the ground running and build systems that scaled alongside SS’s ambitions.
The Challenge
By the time Proximity’s manager joined, Sour Strips was facing several critical pain points:
1. Inventory Volatility:
As SS expanded into new retail channels, it became increasingly difficult to maintain a buffer stock that could absorb production delays and shipping uncertainties.
2. Order Accuracy & Forecasting:
Without a unified system to project orders against sales and actual inventory, SS risked overordering—or worse, stockouts—at precisely the moments when customer demand peaked.
3. Disconnected Processes:
The Fulfillment, Operations, and Inventory teams were each using separate spreadsheets and ad-hoc tracking files. This fragmentation made it hard to identify bottlenecks, detect discrepancies early, or gain a clear picture of what was in production, in transit, or on shelves.
Supplier Coordination:
SS relied on partner suppliers for production, but without a shared tracking mechanism, communication gaps led to misaligned expectations around shipment timelines and production priorities.
First 30 Days: Laying the Foundation
In the initial month, Proximity’s manager immersed herself in SS’s existing workflows and data tools:
- Role Mapping & Stakeholder Interviews: She met with every team member involved in inventory, fulfillment, and operations, alongside SS’s key suppliers. By understanding each point of contact and how orders flowed from “order placed” to “order fulfilled,” she built empathy and trust immediately.
- Process Visualization: She created an ad-hoc process flowchart that deconstructed every step—ordering, production, shipment, and fulfillment—and then overlaid how those processes intersected across departments. Sharing these flowcharts with SS’s leadership (including Founder Maxx) sparked valuable discussions around inefficiencies that had previously gone unnoticed.
- Data Audit: Existing spreadsheets were reviewed in detail. Some relied on manual entries with inconsistent naming conventions; others didn’t capture critical lead-time information from suppliers or real-time sales data. She also evaluated the short-term software and EDI tools SS had adopted, flagging early usability gaps.
- Immediate Improvements: Two quick-win deliverables emerged:
- A Revised Production Tracking File that consolidated all active purchase orders (POs), production timelines, and expected ship dates into one sheet.
- A Centralized Database Template for inventory transactions, designed so that the Fulfillment and Operations teams could log receipts, shipments, and stock levels in real time.
By day 30, the team already had a clearer sense of where orders were in the pipeline—and could proactively address minor delays before they became major roadblocks.
First 90 Days: Driving Process Reformation
Over the next two months, the outsourced manager collaborated closely with SS’s internal teams and suppliers to formalize more robust procedures:
- Production Scheduling Revamp: A standardized production schedule was introduced, outlining priority SKU runs, supplier capacity, and production lead times. By adding a simple manual ordering system—where every outbound PO generated a unique reference number—the team gained immediate visibility into “what’s been placed,” “what’s pending,” and “what’s incoming.” Suppliers were given shared access to this centralized production tracker, which aligned expectations and exposed discrepancies in real time.
- Inventory-Order Projection Alignment: Using the new centralized database, SS began comparing “orders placed – sales – actual stock” weekly. This cadence helped identify overordering early and adjust reorder thresholds, reducing excess stock while preventing stockouts. As a result, SS was able to say “Yes” more confidently to larger opportunities and new partnerships—knowing they had an accurate buffer.
- Data Consolidation & Performance Analysis: A historical sales database was built, giving SS full line-of-sight into each SKU’s year-over-year performance. With cleaner data, forecasting became more precise: the marketing team could see which SKUs were trending, and Operations could allocate production resources accordingly.
- Project Reconciliation Best Practices: Each new wholesale opportunity (including projected initial and monthly stock needs, live dates, and pickup schedules) was documented in a standardized template. This approach ensured that both SS and their partners had clear expectations on timelines and volumes—leading to smoother onboarding of new accounts.
- Consumption-Based Margin Tracking: By analyzing monthly consumption rates (i.e., how fast each SKU was moving through retailers), the team could fine-tune reorder points and better anticipate promotional spikes.
Within 90 days, SS’s teams reported that running day-to-day operations felt significantly more seamless. Bottlenecks—once opaque—were identified and eliminated. Fulfillment times improved, and inventory accuracy increased.
Long-Term Impact: A “Work-in-Progress” Accelerated
The real shift didn’t happen overnight; success emerged as improvements compounded. Over the following months, the collaboration between SS’s internal staff, their partners, and Proximity’s outsourced operations lead yielded:
Enhanced Supplier Coordination:
The centralized production tracker reduced miscommunications. When SS placed an order, suppliers could immediately see its PO reference, production status, and expected ship date—eliminating guesswork and reducing back-and-forth emails by 40%.
Improved Order Accuracy:
Monthly inventory projections became 95% accurate (versus 70% accuracy pre-Proximity), minimizing stockouts during peak selling periods. With better forecasting, SS was no longer forced to turn down last-minute orders due to inventory uncertainty.
Streamlined Cross-Functional Collaboration:
The consolidated database enabled Fulfillment, Operations, and Inventory teams to work off a single source of truth. Weekly huddles became more productive—by the time managers met, everyone had updated their section of the sheet, so discussions focused on problem-solving, not data cleanup.
Data-Driven Growth:
With a clear historical sales database, SS expanded into three new regional markets, aligning production runs to seasonality and retailer promotional calendars. By leveraging accurate consumption data, they improved margin management and decreased excess inventory carrying costs by 20%.
Scalable Process Documentation:
All process flowcharts, templates, and SOPs were stored in a centralized drive, allowing future hires to ramp up quickly. SS now has a living operations playbook—one that evolves with the business.
Acquisition & Beyond: Building on a Strong Foundation
In early 2025, Hershey’s acquired Sour Strips—a testament to SS’s skyrocketing growth and brand potential. While this partnership has opened doors to national retail chains and new U.S. distribution channels, the core of SS’s success remains the same: a team that embraces continuous improvement and data-driven decision-making.
Thanks to the process architecture co-developed with Proximity, Hershey’s operational teams seamlessly integrated SS into their broader supply chain. The shared production tracking and inventory forecast frameworks were easily adapted to Hershey’s systems—accelerating post-acquisition synergy and reducing integration headaches.
SS continues to thrive under Hershey’s umbrella, maintaining its “work-in-progress” mentality. By inviting external expertise (first through Proximity’s outsourced operations manager, now via Hershey’s broader network), they have demonstrated that smart process design and rigorous data management are the keys to scaling without sacrificing quality or agility.
Why Proximity Outsourcing?
This case study highlights how partnering with Proximity Outsourcing to provide an experienced outsourced Operations Manager can transform a growing business’s operations from fragmented to fully synchronized. If your company is facing:
- Rapid demand surges and inventory uncertainty
- Fragmented processes that slow down fulfillment
- Lack of consolidated data for accurate forecasting
- Supplier communication gaps that lead to delays
…then Proximity’s specialized managerial talent can help you build the processes, tools, and cultural alignment necessary to scale confidently.
Ready to achieve the Sour Strips level of operational excellence?
Contact Proximity Outsourcing today to learn how our outsourced managers can quickly diagnose pain points, implement robust systems, and deliver sustainable improvements—so your business can focus on growth, not grunt work.